USA Today Lays Off 60-70 Employees, Half in Newsroom

USA Today laid off between 60 and 70 employees Wednesday, about half of them in the newsroom, reports said.

Spokesman Jeremy Gaines told the Washington Business Journal that the move will let the newspaper "reinvest in the business to ensure the continued success of its digital transformation," adding: "USA Today is working to align its staffing levels to meet current market conditions."

The axe fell just a month after Gannett, the paper's parent company, announced plans to spin off its publishing business.

At that time, The Tennessean's executive editor, Stefanie Murray, told the Poynter Institute that the plan was to have "self-sufficient reporters producing publication-ready copy."

Reporters tweeted or emailed news of the layoffs, Poynter reported, including book reviewer and reporter Bob Minzesheimer, health and wellness reporter Michelle Healy, online producer John Elliot and music reporter Korina Lopez.

Another bloodbath of layoffs at @USATODAY. I'm one of them, along with at least 50 others. More than half the newsroom.

— KorinaLopez (@KorinaLopez) September 3, 2014

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