Carl Kasell, the NPR newscaster known for saying things in that voice of his, is retiring from the morning newscast (but continuing to appear on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me). "The biggest change in his life may be not having to wake up at 1:05 in the morning in order to be ready for the network's 5 a.m. ET newscast." NPR has been literally trying to kill beloved newscaster Carl Kasell, all these years.


Not to get back on this subject again (please), but a tipster tells us there are still more AP layoffs going down, today: "one biz writer in nyc who was on vacation last week. two people in los angeles," our tipster says. We are hoping and assuming these are just leftovers that didn't get done last week.


James O'Shea was a Chicago Tribune editor who got pushed out as the entire company went to hell. Now he's starting up a rival Chicago news organization. But when the NYT asks him about all the BEEF he must have he says, "No, I don't have any interest in any of that." Ridiculous! On the internet, "news" is just a code word for BEEF. You will learn this soon enough, Mr. O'Shea.


What's this, one guy writing in True Slant defends the continued existence on earth and in our daily newspapers of NYT nature writer and most annoying essayist in the US of A Verlyn Klinkenborg? No. He is indefensible.

For example, the charmers at my hometown paper, the Las Vegas Review Journal, saw an increase in circulation this year by 6.6%. Which is awesome! Except: strange. Because Vegas' economy is in the toilet, having been crippled by foreclosures and joblessness. Why wouldn't these people just go online and get that shit for free? Funny you'd ask, because weekday sales dropped by 12,000 copies.

So. About that increase in circulation. Is the mob fixing numbers in Vegas again, or what? So old-school. Here's how this works: back in April, the Audit Bureau of Circulations changed their rules to let numbers look better to people who look at circulation rates, like ad buyers (and media reporters). The standard-change was bad. Like, disingenuous. Which is how the Review-Journal went up in circulation this year.

The change happened because the price the newspaper was charging for the online replica — it costs print customers an extra 50 cents per week — hadn't been high enough to qualify as paid circulation until the ABC's April change. That let newspapers define their paying readers as anyone who spends at least a penny for a copy. Previously, a newspaper copy had to sell for at least 25 percent of the basic price to qualify as paid circulation.

Right, so, by that logic, $1 could potentially equal 100 copies, and $100 equals 10,000 copies. Here's where I'd write that that's five times the amount of copies of the LVRJ distributed in Vegas, but I can't, because we have no idea how many copies are actually distributed! Fun. How do advertisers feel about this runaround? Raging mad, right? Um, kind of. One advertiser thinks the numbers are "less credible."

You really have to do your homework now and ask newspapers about how much double counting is going on,'' said Allison Howald, U.S. director of print investment at PHD Media.

The rage doesn't come across quite like I was expecting it to.

Hopefully, "less credible" is a kind euphemism for "complete bullshit," or some advertisers are going to wake up one day and start asking questions about why the 200,000 eyes they were promised on their quarter-page actually only amounts to a third-grade arts class making paper machete hats. You'd think these sketchy practices are limited to sleazy gambling towns like Vegas, though, right? WRONG again. Wall Street Journal, you guys will be transparent, right?

Nope. WSJ spokesman Robert Christie wouldn't respond to the AP's questions for quote on the new rules, including whether or not their numbers included digital subscriptions.

Including the print side, the Journal's total circulation edged up by just 0.6 percent to 2.02 million. ''We followed the ABC's rules and methodology,'' Christie said

Right, so, newspapers: more fucked than previously statistically "proven."

I'm forgetting where I read about the guy who used to steal ATM receipts of trashcans to impress dates with his huge bank account. This reminds me of that.

1. Our map of the global layoffs only includes those tips that came in by Thursday morning. For the most complete listing, see the AP Layoffs List.

2. Take the list for what it is: a compilation of tips from you, the APers, and your knowledgeable friends. We got so many tips that there may well be some misspelled names or repetitions or slight misstatements of titles. It is the Wikipedia of Layoff Lists. That said, I've made corrections when I received info about anything being incorrect.

3. Probably the most striking thing about these layoffs was the high number of victims who were 10, 20, or 30-year-plus veterans of the AP. We hope you will all receive much grander tributes to your individual careers than a single line in a Gawker post. Good luck to everyone.

The 90 news department staffers being notified this week, along with earlier reductions in other departments, a voluntary retirement program last summer, a continuing hiring freeze and attrition, bring The Associated Press to its goal of a 10 percent reduction in the news cooperative's global payroll costs in 2009, as outlined by President and CEO Tom Curley last November.

Related: Our AP Layoff List will be updated even more by the end of the day.

[Note: All info is based on tips and is not verified by the AP. In some cases it's impossible to tell whether multiple tips refer to the same people, but we've synthesized as much as possible.]

New York City
Reported layoffs: One business editor, one business reporter, five multimedia staffers, one sports editor, several writers on the national desk.

Upstate New York
One correspondent and one editorial assistant reportedly gone.

Boston
Four staffers reportedly laid off.

Washington, DC
Reported layoffs: One business reporter, one research staffer, an "enterprise team" reporter (Rita Beamish), an assignment desk staffer, three broadcast staffers.

Pittsburgh
Reported layoffs: One business reporter.

Dallas
One reported layoff.

Jacksonville
Longtime AP reporter Ron Word reportedly laid off and bureau closing. [I remember Ron Word's byline from forever when I was growing up near there, very sad. Shout out to Ron Word!]

Kentucky
Reported layoffs: One news editor in Louisville, one editorial assistant, one state capitol reporter.

Central Wisconsin
One reporter laid off and bureau reportedly closed.

Oklahoma
News editing duties reportedly outsourced to Little Rock.

Michigan
Reported layoffs: One state government reporter, the only Grand Rapids correspondent (bureau reportedly closing), and one editorial assistant.

Dayton, OH
Reported layoffs: One correspondent and one editorial assistant, which means the entire bureau.

Berkeley, CA
One correspondent reportedly laid off and bureau closing.

Roanoke, VA
The only correspondent reportedly laid off.

Bismarck, ND
Only correspondent reportedly laid off.

Santa Fe, NM
One of two correspondents reportedly laid off.

National Staffers
Reported layoffs: A "high percentage" of all editorial assistants across the country, a national photo editor, as many as eight photographers, the AP liaison/executive director of the Associated Press Managing Editors (APME), a national writer, an investigative reporter/ computer-assisted reporting guru (Pulitzer winner Frank Bass),

San Juan/ Caribbean Bureau
Nine staffers reportedly laid off and bureau slated to close.

The Middle East
Reported layoffs: At least three newspeople. One reporter in Jerusalem.

Vietnam
One photographer reportedly laid off.

Beijing
Reported layoffs: One reporter and one other staffer.

View The AP Layoff Map in a larger map

• From a tipster: "At least one business news staffer let go today." [Not in NYC]. More from the same tipster: "Make that at least two biz news staffers, including NYC editor. Also likely a 3rd biz reporter in NYC." And the latest tally: "Here's the damage: 3 biz reporters (nyc, dc and pittsburgh) Also 1 nyc biz ed. A slew of ea's nationwide, some photogs and 2 national writers.)"
• From a tipster: One staffer laid off in Dallas; and, "one of the news editors (a specific AP title — a supervisory position) in either Kentucky or Tennessee, so there will be one editor for two states."
• From Erin Carlson: Five layoffs in the multimedia department in the Manhattan headquarters, "and one staffer is crying in the bathroom."
• From Michael Calderone: One layoff in the Washington, DC research department.
• From a tipster in DC: The word in the DC office is that there will be three layoffs today, and three more later in the week. UPDATE: Our tipster says the DC layoffs include a business reporter, a DC "enterprise team" reporter, and an assignment desk staffer. Three more layoffs there could be coming as early as this afternoon.
• From a tipster: "I was one of the editorial assistants let go. I was told it was a business decision to let go nearly all editorial assistants. Some in cities of regional desks will be reassigned to handle EA workload there."
• From a tipster: They hear that "a high percentage" of the editorial assistants nationwide are being let go, as well as a National Photo Editor. In all, they hear, the layoffs will total 80-90 people.
• From a tipster: "There were at least three layoffs in the Middle East. As far as I know, all were newspeople."
• From a tipster: "The news editor in Kentucky and an editorial assistant in Ky. were let go. One more cut possible in Ky. today."
• From a tipster: "Closed bureau in central Wisconsin, laid off its only reporter."
• From a tipster: "The AP liaison/executive director of the Associated Press Managing Editors (APME), an AP employee, was let go."
• From a tipster: "The Little Rock news editor will now be overseeing Oklahoma, too."
• From a photographer tipster: "I've heard 9 in photo nationwide, (1 editor and the shooters, all part-timers) got the ax."
• From a tipster: "Nine in Caribbean bureau in San juan. More reorg to come. Bureau expected to close."
• From a tipster: "3 gone in [Kentucky]. EA, news ed and one in state capitol."
• From a tipster: "The Jacksonville, FL AP bureau was closed and the correspondent of 30+ years there was laid off."
• From a tipster: Layoffs allegedly include national writer Todd Lewan and two photographers from Boston.
• From a tipster: "The fired AP photographers were Harry Cabluck in Austin Texas, Donna McWilliams in Dallas, Al Grillo in Anchorage, Mary Ann Chastain in Columbia SC, and Winslow Townsend and Lisa Poole both of Boston. The senior photo editor was Victor Vaughan, the #2 management person in the department at NY headquarters."
• From a tipster: "They laid off the photographer in Vietnam."
• From Bloomberg: Yesterday's AP layoffs totaled 33 reporters, 19 editorial assistants and 5 photographers. [Clarification: this only covers union members].
• From a tipster: "The Sports Editor - Broadcast/OnLine Video based in NYC just got laid off."
• From a tipster: Frank Bass, a Pulitzer winner, investigative reporter, and the AP's computer-assisted reporting guru, has been laid off. He tells us, indeed, "'I'm quite unemployed at the moment."
• From a tipster: "I just heard they laid off the longtime correspondent in Dayton, OH, this morning. That's a single-person bureau."
• From a tipster: More details on what appears to be widespread closure of smaller AP bureaus: "Layoffs include Ron Word, the correspondent in Jacksonville who has witnessed some ungodly number of executions for AP. That one-person bureau is being closed. The one person bureau in Mobile, Ala. is being closed - but it was vacant anyway - the last staffer there took a buy out a while back. Same thing for Albany, Ga. [UPDATE: Elliott Minor emails us, "The list includes information that the Albany, Ga., correspondent took a buyout. That's not correct. I was the correspondent. I retired in April, 2007 with 35 years of AP service. I was not replaced, so essentially the office was closed, although I don't think AP ever said so officially."] The news editor in Louisville, Ky. was let go."
• From a tipster: One of the DC layoffs was enterprise reporter Rita Beamish. "She covered the White House during Bush I and was a complete holy terror on economic stories. They're going to miss her enormously."
• From a tipster: One editorial assistant was cut in Los Angeles yesterday, and "broader cuts" are expected there today.
• From a tipster: "Michelle Locke, Berkeley, Calif., correspondent with 24 years in at AP, laid off Tuesday, and Berkeley bureau closed. Also, AP named a handful of 'interim' regional photo editors to fill in the gaps."
• From a tipster: "AP broadcast lost three yesterday in Washington and one today in New York."
• From a tipster: "An EA and a correspondent (a 25-year veteran of AP) are gone in upstate New York."
• From a tipster: "From the NY/Nat.Desk: Mark Kennedy, Polly Anderson, Yvette Blackman and state buro PHOs around the country, Lisa Poole, Mary Ann Chastain, Al Grillo and Donna McWilliams."
• From a tipster: "Sue Lindsey, Roanoke correspondent who covered the Virginia Tech shootings, was laid off Wednesday. Another one-person shop. Phyllis Mensing, longtime correspondent in Bismarck, N.D., was laid off." UPDATE, from an AP tipster: "Can confirm the correspondent in Bismarck was laid off, but that isn't the 'only' person there. Three other staffers remain in that city. Laid off correspondent was management."
• From a tipster: "A couple of people from the Boston bureau were let go on Friday, then two more today (Wednesday) - a woman named Nancy who was there for 20 years and a man named John who was there for 40 years. Layoffs made by new bureau chief Bill Kole."
• From a tipster: "I know AP fired a text reporter in Beijing last week and at least one other person from the bureau as well."
• From a tipster: "The AP correspondent in Dayton, OH was indeed laid off. His name is James Hannah. He had 29 years in with the AP, including about 20 years as the Dayton correspondent. He was relieved of duty by the AP on
  Wednesday, Nov. 18. The prior day (Tuesday), the same AP executives laid off Mark Riffle, an editorial assistant in the Columbus, OH, bureau. Mark also had 29 years in with the AP. Mark and Jim are both really good guys. I've worked with them both."
• From Joe Monahan: Deborah Baker, one half of the AP's Santa Fe, NM bureau, was laid off.
• From a tipster: "I also know from AP Jerusalem that they laid off reporter [Steve Weitzman]."
• From a tipster: "Michigan lost an editorial assistant in Detroit, a state government reporter in the state Capitol (Lansing) and the correspondent in Grand Rapids (AP closed that one-person bureau I believe)."
• From a tipster: "One of the two Syracuse correspondents was terminated Weds."
• From a tipster: "New Mexico also lost an editorial assistant in Albuquerque."
• From multiple tipsters: "This may have been the final one. [Knoxville], Tennessee Correspondent Duncan Mansfield, minutes before AP story moved about the layoffs."
• From a tipster: One editorial assistant gone in Miami.
• From a tipster: "The national desk was simply eliminated. Among the national editors laid off were veterans Marty Steinberg, Polly Anderson and Yvette Blackman. Mark Kennedy, a writer/editor in the entertainment department also let go." These staffers were based in various cities in the US and abroad, reportedly.
• From a tipster: "The Boston layoffs were two part-time photogs, an editorial assistant and an office assistant (answered phones, went through newspapers, picked stuff up from courthouses and shuttled things to the statehouse bureau)."
• From a tipster: "Missouri: Betsy Taylor, a reporter in St. Louis; Brian Charlton, the editorial assistant in Kansas City and a buyout has been offered to cut one more Kansas City reporter."
• From a tipster: "News editor in Richmond, Va., is leaving. The news editor (a supervisory position) in Charleston, W.Va., will oversee the news report in both Virginias."
• From a tipster: "A few days before the other cuts were announced AP closed the Spanish-language News desk in Puerto Rico and let go a technician there, eliminating eight jobs. Four new Spanish-language jobs are being created elsewhere."
• From a tipster: "Both of the editorial assistants in Dallas, who helped to serve the entire state of Texas, were laid off."
• From a tipster: "AP-Hartford News Editor Patrick Sanders let go about an hour ago...He was told Wednesday by the New England topguy that the AP was cutting out the news ed job and they were opening up the Boston news ed post to either him or Karen (she's the Boston news ed)....She won! Also in Hartford, a biz writer reassigned to the local desk (one more cut in the biz dept that they kept ramping up over the last five years, sted the techno new media beats)..."
• From a tipster: This memo went out Thursday afternoon to New England AP staffers.

  From: Kole, Bill
  Sent: Thursday, November 19, 2009 3:35 PM
  To: All Southern New England Staff; All Northern New England Staff
  Subject: New England News Editor
  Importance: High

  ALL

  I want to let you know about an important change in our news
  management team for New England.

  As part of AP's reorganization to trim payroll expenses and streamline
  operations, a business decision has been made to consolidate the two
  news editor jobs in Boston and Hartford into a single position
  overseeing all six New England states.

  I'm pleased to announce that Karen Testa will shift into this
  important new role.

  Patrick Sanders will stay on as Connecticut news editor until Dec. 4,
  when Karen will take over. Patrick will be working with Karen in the
  meantime on the handover. Please join me in wishing him all the very
  best in his career and next steps.

  We'll have more to say about this change, but suffice it to say that
  as AP's regional desks take on more editing, the news editors in newly
  consolidated territories will have more time to direct beats,
  front-load stories with reporters — and ensure we're targeting
  stories that will set AP apart and make us essential.

  That's exciting, and Karen and I look forward to working with all of you.

  Best

  Bill

A tipster tells us that the word amongst AP union members is that today could be the day for "70 or 80" layoffs. The rumors say that the layoffs will be spread across the company nationally. Although—ominously—we hear that New York staffers have been summoned to an "important meeting" this afternoon.

We'll update if we learn more. In the meantime, if you have more details, email us.

UPDATE: Another reporter tells us, "Yep, they've started."

Today Grub Street let us know that Publisher's Marketplace is reporting that Bruni sold the rights to his to Fremantle and a show based on them will be produced by Tollin Productions, the same people behind One Tree Hill and Smallville. Does that mean that Bruni is going to be rubbing elbows with Serena Van Der Woodsen on the CW? Dunno yet. We also don't know if this will be a reality type deal or if they're going to be dramatizing the life of a food critic racked by food issues. If that's the case, we smell Emmy—we we don't taste it, because that would mean empty calories.

What we do know is that Bruni still hates Jeffrey Chodorow, doesn't worry about counting calories when at a restaurant, and thinks that Yelp is great and all, but it's no NY Times. That is all thanks to a video of him being interviewed by Mike Colameco as part of the 92nd Street Y's "Food Talks" series. Would you welcome this man onto your TV set once a week?

[Image via AP]

From the AP's Paul Colford:

You may have misread Michael Calderone ("Calderone estimates they may need hundreds more layoffs before January.")

He says this:

"Early estimates put the 10 percent pay roll cut at roughly 400 staffers. But it's unclear how many would be cut, given that the targeted reduction is in payroll and not headcount."

So hundreds of layoffs would seem logical based on the numbers we have. But it's a guess.

Econometric expert Daniel Gross speculates that Conde Nast's closing of Gourmet may mark the bottom—the trough, if you will—of the bad times for the magazine industry. It's an interesting piece. But I'd put my money on "when the last remaining print magazine company is bought by Google for a piddling sum, as a plaything." I'm no economist though!


Katie Couric's advice to college students: "Don't let the turkeys get you down." You just can't hear that one enough.


Turns out that Russians love George Will. Good. We hate him.


The AP is considering charging subscribers to receive their news exclusively about a half hour before all the non-paying bloodsuckers get it. Which is a pretty creative idea! But, possible scenario: Someone subscribes to the exclusive early feed; then they post those stories immediately on their website; then people read them there, for free. It's crazy, but it just might happen.

The AP has confirmed what we already know, that Johnston has agreed to pose for the magazine. They also told us a deal hasn't been signed. We talked to Levi's svengali Tank Jones himself who said they're still trying to work out some details like how much money they'll get, where the shoot will take place, and how much Levi will show.

Originally, the shoot was going to be Levi without his Levis but in his underwear. Then it came out that Levi would show either the front or the back. The AP report explicitly uses the word "nude," so we don't think there will be any underwear. Jones told us that he's willing to "let the whole cat out of the bag." When asked what factors would determine whether or not Levi would go fully nude, Jones said that is a "game time decision" that Levi himself will have to make. "Once you let it out there, it's out, and you can't put it back," Jones said.

Jones also said that Playgirl, which now operates only online, offered $25,000 but they weren't going to do it for that much. Jones said that he would like the shoot to be in New York. I tried to get an invitation to the shoot should it happen in NY and I think I got shot down.

A source at Playgirl told us that the reason the deal hasn't been closed is that they're having a hard time ironing out the details with Rex Butler, Levi's attorney, who has stopped returning calls and emails. That is interesting, because Butler is the one who is quoted in the AP article saying the shoot is a "foregone conclusion."

Speaking of the AP story, gay porn blog The Sword [NSFW, unless you work at a dildo manufacturer], says that the AP originally published the story with a quote from the personal trainer about Levi. "Once you know him, he's very confident...When it's time for him to bare all, he'll be ready," said Marvin Jones, a former Mr. Alaska contestant who is the brother of manager/bodyguard/mascot Tank Jones.

A spokesperson from the AP confirmed that the story originally ran with the quote, but a later version it was taken out as a "routine editorial trim" and not from pressure on either side of the negotiation.

We were going to take "bare all" to mean that we're going to see what God gave him and he gave to Bristol Palin, but now, with the tentative negotiations reading a fever pitch, we're backing down to our original assessment. Johnston may be ballsy for posing in Playgirl, but we don't think he's going to make the big pass when it comes time for a "game time decision." Unless, of course, Playgirl ponies up the big bucks.

Of course, we'll keep you updated with any breaking news on this very important subject of national concern.

Breathtaking chart by the talented Steven Dressler.

The Village Voice talks to recent Columbia J-school grads to figure out what the fuck they were thinking, going to J-school. "I might be crazy, but I'm optimistic," says one. That sums it all up.


The Food Network is doing great! Not doing so great: the restaurant industry. Soon all food will be consumed via television.


Media conglomerate news: the bankrupt Tribune Co. could exit bankruptcy as early as the end of this year! If, uh, all goes well; The AP got rid of 100 staffers, with buyouts; Media profits at McGraw-Hill and Time Warner were down significantly; and Viacom had a bad quarter, but they're "hopeful." Let's all be!


As predicted, the crazy saga of Daily News reporter Adam Rubin being accused of fishing for a job with the Mets has sparked a discussion about journalistic job-fishing! Everybody does it, says D. Carr. Kelly McBride offers some incredibly easy ethical guidelines. And every sports reporter in New York is on Rubin's side, because they could be next.