Economic conditions are forcing the cuts at The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News and their Philly.com website, Philadelphia Media Network spokesman Mark Block said. The company will seek voluntary buyouts for 15 days, then implement layoffs if necessary, he said.
The local Newspaper Guild, a journalists' union, said in a statement after meeting with company officials late Wednesday afternoon: "The company's decision to decimate our already-shrunken ranks is hard to comprehend given the ever-competitive 24/7 nature of today's media landscape."
The 37 jobs will be cut by March 31, the end of the first fiscal quarter. The employees' contract calls for a 45-day notice of any layoffs. Block would not disclose the size of the remaining editorial staff.
The news follows weeks of tumult inside the newspapers' shared building, where the broadsheet Inquirer and tabloid Daily News are produced under one roof but have been fiercely competitive throughout their long histories.
Over the past year, though, the lines have been blurred in some departments. Photographers now handle assignments for both newspapers, and the same byline appears occasionally in both. That trend will now spread to the sports department and later to news desks.
"It doesn't pay to have three people at 9, 10 o'clock at night out at Citizens Bank Park, when one person can provide enough photos to keep everyone happy," Block said.
A group of New York hedge funds bought the newspapers at a 2010 bankruptcy auction and may be trying to sell them.
Former Gov. Ed Rendell has said he leads a group of powerful local investors hoping to take over. They include Philadelphia Flyers owner Ed Snider and New Jersey Democratic power broker George Norcross.
Newsroom staffs have gone through repeated layoffs under various owners in the past decade, as have newsrooms across the country.
Block, who could not rule out more cuts down the line, said the company was "assessing the economy and the financial climate of the industry, just like every other media company."
