A depressing scene

Amid the recent newspaper layoffs, the San Jose Mercury News stands out as one of the papers hit the hardest. In my search for exact numbers, I found the following:

"Since 2000, the newsroom at the Mercury News has been cut in half from about 400 journalists to 200 full-time positions." (savethemerc.com)

"Fifteen newsroom employees and 19 employees from other parts of the paper were laid off today. Earlier in the week, 16 employees accepted buyout offers, five from the newsroom. The reductions represent a cut of about 5 percent for the newspaper." (03/07/08, mercurynews.com)

"About 17% of the staff will be laid off in July, leaving the paper with 200 newsroom positions, down from a peak seven years ago of about 400." (06/20/07, mercurynews.com)


To document the aftermath of all this, a designer photographed what remains of the newsroom. You can see the bleak scene here.