Crain’s: Chicago Tribune to Lay Off 20 Percent of Newsroom

The Chicago Tribune is informing its employees that management plans to lay off 20 percent of the newsroom in the coming months, representing roughly 90 to 100 people, Crain’s is reporting.

Ann Saphir, with Lorene Yue, wrote today:

Staffers were told of the impending layoffs last week, according to three people who attended a meeting on the topic. The cuts will take place over the next several weeks, the sources said.

The expected cuts are the latest attempt to reduce expenses at the paper, whose parent Tribune Co. filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors in December.

A Trib spokeswoman declined to comment.

Saphir and Yue noted the Tribune had 480 employees in its newsroom last August. It cut about a dozen workers in December, just before its Chapter 11 filing, and eliminated the jobs of another 20 people in February.