Here’s a story that makes me nervous. The Philadelphia Inquirer’s editor Amanda Bennett will be stepping down at the end of the year. The parent company, Philadelphia Media Holdings LLC, which bought the paper in June is expected to make deep layoffs within the paper.
Bennett is leaving in Philadelphia as the Inquirer is bracing for layoffs.
The paper’s department heads have been told by management to be prepared for as many as 150 people to be laid off. Through buyouts last year, the Inquirer had already reduced its editorial staff by about 15 percent, from 500 to 425. Its tabloid sister paper, the Philadelphia Daily News, had its editorial staff cut 19 percent, from 130 to 105.
The Inquirer is home to Tony Auth whose been their editorial cartoonist since 1971.