Scoop: Inquirer lays off staff, ends Communities and Engagement Desk
The Philadelphia Inquirer is eliminating a news desk focused on covering the city's marginalized communities in its latest round of layoffs, a reporter and a union official tell Axios.
The big picture: The union says the newspaper's decision to nix the Communities and Engagement Desk reflects a rollback of its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies.
Driving the news: Inquirer publisher and CEO Lisa Hughes told staff in a Friday email obtained by Axios that the company in January identified 10 jobs to be eliminated, including eight in the newsroom.
The newspaper worked with its union, the NewsGuild, to offer buyout packages, Hughes wrote, and parted ways with "separation packages" more generous than what the contract calls for.
Hughes said the publication, owned by the nonprofit Lenfest Institute for Journalism, is in "a constant race to drive our digital business as legacy print and advertising revenue continues its industry-wide decline."
"This dynamic requires us to invest in critical areas of growth, which we have successfully done and will continue to do. Conversely, it also requires us to assess all aspects of our business and to find savings in select areas."
Hughes' email didn't address the Communities and Engagement Desk.
The Inquirer didn't immediately return Axios' request for comment.
Context: The communities desk covered stories to address the "longtime neglect and misrepresentation of marginalized communities," per its mission statement.
It was among a slate of DEI initiatives the Inquirer created in 2020 following an outcry over a headline that the paper subsequently called "racist."
The newspaper apologized for the "unacceptable" misstep and pledged to ramp up its efforts to improve coverage of underserved communities.
Zoom in: Half of the eight newsroom staff offered buyouts are people of color, Diane Mastrull — an Inquirer breaking news editor and president of the NewsGuild of Greater Philadelphia — wrote in a memo earlier this week to members, expressing a "loss of confidence" in newspaper leadership.
Mastrull said the affected employees were told there was a "nearly 100% guarantee" they'd be laid off if they didn't accept the deals.
Inquirer staff writer Amy S. Rosenberg put pressure on leaders to explain the decision in a post on X : "Explain why Lenfest-owned Philly Inquirer just eliminated its entire communities desk and sought the departures of five journalists of color."
The cuts come after the Inquirer laid off several staff members last May, a week after the paper asked workers to return to the office to boost "collaboration," per the union.
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