McClatchy eliminated 32 positions at the Miami Herald on Sept. 10, according to reporting by WLRN. The cuts included 28 employees and four vacant jobs. Among those laid off was reporter Tess Riski, who covered city government, elections and development in Miami. The paper’s remaining Broward County reporters, its audience team and its only video producer also lost their jobs.
At El Nuevo Herald, the Spanish-language sister publication, the company eliminated its entire writing staff. A planned position covering Miami Beach will not be filled. Carol Marbin Miller, the Herald’s deputy investigations editor, and veteran reporter Andres Viglucci later accepted voluntary buyouts proposed by the union in an effort to save other newsroom jobs.
Across McClatchy, more than 90 unionized journalists and media workers at 17 publications lost their jobs that day. Reporters in Kentucky, Idaho and Washington also were cut.
In a letter to employees, the company said consumer revenue fell 41% while local news expenses stayed largely flat. McClatchy said it will focus on journalism that is “differentiated, consequential and difficult to replicate,” and that subscriber data will help guide where reporters are assigned.
Miller said that when a newspaper loses 30% of its staff, coverage changes. The cuts arrive months after the Pulitzer Prize Board gave Herald investigative reporter Julie K. Brown a special citation for her Jeffrey Epstein reporting. For South Florida readers, the question is who will watch city commissions, development deals and public spending now that those reporters are gone.
