The band continues to play as the ship goes down. The Kansas City Star announced Monday that about 20 folks would be losing their jobs. About the same number of jobs will go unfilled.
The announcement came as everyone was seeking shelter from the storm. It was also filled with the same optimistic rhetoric we've come to expect from Star publisher Mark Zieman.
In the latest e-mail to Star employees, Zieman wrote that the daily has been able to add new advertisers and also get back some former ones.
"Recent successes and long-term trends continue to reinforce our
expectations for revenue growth sometime this year," Zieman wrote. "But in the
short-term, we must continue to find expense savings until we are
certain this recession is behind us."
Zieman blamed the cuts on the recession. Some of the cuts were voluntary buyouts. Others were layoffs. Those losing their jobs will get severance pay and "subsidized continuation of benefits if they qualify."
As for names, Bottomline Communications has three: business writer Randy Heaster, Olathe News editor Rick Babson and JoCo reporter Jim Sullinger, who retired.
