More Buyouts Ahead for Boston Globe Newsroom

Boston, MA - More job cuts are coming to the Boston Globe, roughly seven months after Boston's paper of record slashed editorial staff last fall.

According to an email obtained by Dan Kennedy on his Media Nation blog, editor-in-chief Brian McGrory told reporters and editors Tuesday, "we plan to put another buyout on the table."

McGrory joked that plan is "the world's worst-kept secret," and tried to put a positive spin on the news.

"This particular buyout is being offered as the Globe arrives at an inflection point, which is why I’m hopeful that it will work well for a portion of our room," he wrote. "For those who plan to stay, please know this: There are fascinating times ahead."

The paper's pending move to new, downtown offices may make for a difficult transition for some staffers, the email said. Additionally, the paper's ongoing "reinvention initiative" will mean changing workflows and job requirements.

"Change is as exhausting as it is exhilarating, and some people have had enough. We respect that, and are offering this enticement now so we can all be prepared going forward," he wrote.

Exciting opportunity and challenging transition ahead or not, at the heart of the decision are the same cost-cutting calculations at work across the struggling journalism industry. As McGrory more poetically puts it, "The Globe’s numbers aren’t as good as our words (or photos, videos, and graphics)."

Per McGrory's email, staff will be offered two weeks' salary for every year of service, capped at no more than one year's pay.

"Everyone in the newsroom will get an offer. The company reserves the right, as with all prior buyouts, to reject anyone who puts in for it," he wrote.

Other arms of the Globe's business operations are also making the offer, as the newspaper prepares to move into new offices. McGrory said in the email Tuesday that move will take place Jan. 1.

This will be the last buyout offer before the move, according to McGrory.