Cry Me a River: AP to Cut 10% of Their Biased Hacks

They've got a lot of company in the dead tree media.

The Associated Press plans to cut up to 10 percent of its workforce in 2009, according to sources at the news service, as it copes with tough financial times and ailing member newspapers.

The AP has one of the world's largest news-gathering teams, employing about 3,000 journalists, and a total of about 4,100 people worldwide. The cuts could amount to about 400 employees.

AP Chief Executive Tom Curley delivered the news as part of a "town hall" meeting with employees.

"All areas and ways of doing business are being reviewed," said an AP statement provided to Reuters. "The AP, which recently instituted a strategic hiring freeze, may need to reduce staff over the next year. If so, it hopes to achieve much of the reduction through attrition."

The job cuts come as the AP restructures its operations in the United States in a bid to provide what it said would be deeper, more relevant coverage for its member newspapers.
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The Star-Ledger and many other papers, as well as big publishers from USA Today's Gannett Co Inc to McClatchy Co and the New York Times Co have collectively cut thousands of jobs this year. Investors in turn have abandoned these companies as stock market prospects as their chances for recovery fail to materialize.

They'll blame everything but the lousy and relentlessly slanted product they offer.