The New York Daily News laid off half its editorial staff as part of a broader effort to move away from opinion writing and focus more on breaking news, The Washington Times reported. “We are fundamentally restructuring the Daily News,” parent company Tronc, which purchased the troubled newspaper last summer for a mere $1, said in an email to staff. “We are reducing today the size of the editorial team by approximately 50 percent and re-focusing much of our talent on breaking news — especially in areas of crime, civil justice and public responsibility,” the email read. The notice said that the employees affected would be hearing from the human resources department before the end of the day. An outside security company was hired for Monday and Tuesday for when the pink slips start rolling out. Rumors started swirling after Tronc sent an email to staff telling them to “plan to be in the New York newsroom on Monday at 9 a.m. for an important message” from Executive Vice President of digital Grant Whitmore. In that meeting, which lasted less than a minute, Whitmore told employees to “bear with us, today will be difficult.” Laid-off staffers were reportedly presented with a 90-day severance package.
