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On March 14, the Denver Post announced the impending layoffs of thirty newsroom employees, or approximately one-third of the staff. Later this afternoon, the paper will issue a final list of those who’ll be leaving. But a preliminary roster assembled by the Denver Newspaper Guild and provided to Westword by Kieran Nicholson, the newsroom unit’s guild chair, suggests that the total number of people losing their jobs won’t be quite as high as previously expected.
Nicholson points out via email that “two on the list, [assistant editor] Dale Ulland and [content coordinator] Lori Punko, have a bit of a reprieve. They’ll be around a little longer. Hopefully permanently.” He subsequently informed us about two individuals who shouldn’t have been included in the original DNG document, assembled last week, and three more who are expected to exit. Hence the 21 names on view below.
In recent days, the Post made nationwide news by publishing an editorial that describes the folks behind its hedge-fund owner, Alden Global Capital, as “vulture capitalists,” as well as multiple fiery opinion pieces, including one by former editor Greg Moore, that testify to the damage that will be inflicted upon the community if an angel investor with a devotion to journalism doesn’t come to the rescue soon.
But such a savior hasn’t materialized in time to save the positions of all the Post‘s employees. Here are the names on the guild’s unofficial departures list:
Full-time layoff notices:
Michael Burrows, assistant editor
Cohen Pert, assistant editor
Sara Hansen, breaking news editor
Jim Bates, weekend night editor
John Leyba, chief photographer
Holly Graham, community journalist
Kathryn Scott, community journalist
Alexandra Scoville, community journalist
Maureen Burnett, content coordinator
Kourtney Geers, director of digital news production
Glen Barber, digital photo editor
Ian Gassman, editorial assistant
Lindsay Martin, videographer
Steve Nehf, videographer
Part-time layoffs:
Michael Tolbert, editorial assistant
Ira Krakel, picture editor
Volunteers:
Jason Blevins, reporter
Brian Eason, reporter
Jenn Fields, section editor
Dylan Owens, digital news editor
Katie Wood, digital photo editor
We’ll update this item with official information once it becomes available. In the meantime, note that editorial page editor Chuck Plunkett, the man credited with assembling the anti-Alden editorial bundle, will be appearing at the Denver Press Club on Wednesday, April 11, at 6 p.m. for a conversation entitled “Fighting Back Against the Vultures.” Click for more information.
This story was updated at 3:42 p.m. and again at 5:40 p.m. and 4 a.m. on April 10 to reflect additional information provided by Kieran Nicholson.
