Fresh Loaf

1. AJC buyout list official — 74 to leave (In addition to the dozens of veteran reporters who jumped ship, news of Pulitzer-winner Cynthia Tucker’s move to D.C. and food writer John Kessler’s brief departure from food-writing made it a very productive week for us pageview-hoarding wretches at Fresh Loaf.)

2. Atlanta Tea Party with Sean Hannity to feature ’shit sandwiches’ (It’s estimated that 10,000 people attended. Imagine the response had Hannity been offering roast beef!)

3. Bottoms up at Frolicon (That’s a lot of booty.)

4. Anti-tax protestors urged to, um, ride MARTA (Irony sandwich, anyone?)

5. CNN’s Anderson Cooper on why Republicans can’t find their voice (A  recap of last week wouldn’t have been complete without at least one teabagging reference. Phew.)

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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This morning’s announcement that the AJC is offering a third round of buyouts came as something of a relief to many among the paper’s beleaguered editorial staff. There’s only so long you can show up for work not knowing if you’re going to be canned that day before you start feeling a little stressed.

Senior writers and editors who were already convinced there was a pink sheet with their name on it are, we’re told, generally pleased to find out they’ve got another chance to get out with a decent severance package. In fact, some employees have already handed in their completed buyout applications and are waiting to be told when is their last day on the job.

The deal on the table is the same as last time: two week’s pay for every year of employment. But the number of bodies to be cleared out is higher than past downsizings. The stated goal is to cut the editorial payroll – currently 323 positions – by about 90. But we’re told that’s an estimate based on the total salary dollars the honchos are looking to save. That figure hasn’t been released.

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After weeks of rumors, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution this morning announced that it plans to cut 30 percent of its full-time newsroom staff. It will be the third and largest round of job cuts  since 2007 to hit metro Atlanta’s largest daily newspaper. Effective April 26, the AJC will also stop distribution to seven outlying counties, reducing its total distribution area to 20 counties in the metro region.

From a staff report:

The AJC’s news staff will drop to about 230 full-time positions, down from about 323 currently. Staff members with five or more years with the company will be offered voluntary buyouts, with layoffs to follow if fewer than about 90 apply, the company said.

Most of the news staff cuts “will be in production and management, allowing us to keep as many news reporters as possible,” AJC and ajc.com editor Julia Wallace said.

The cuts are expected to be completed in May.

The company laid off 48 part-time news staffers Tuesday and announced the full-time cuts Wednesday morning.

In 2006, full-time newsroom staff numbered about 500.

(UPDATE): Rumored counties dropped from distribution: Barrow, Bibb, Clarke, Houston, Monroe, Oconee, Putnam.

More to come.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Effective Jan. 11, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says it will shrink its circulation area to 27 counties and cut 156 jobs. The affected counties are mostly located along the Alabama and North Carolina borders (full list is available through the link). Jobs slated to be cut appear to be in the circulation department. (If I’m mistaken, please correct me in the comments or via e-mail. Anonymity guaranteed.)

From the report:

The move will reduce daily and Sunday circulation about 5 percent. But it will not significantly affect overall readership — a measure of readers rather than the number of copies — because that is based on a 28-county area, the AJC said.

The company said 215 employees have been offered involuntary severance packages as part of a restructuring of the circulation department, but that they may apply for 59 jobs created by the changes. The net reduction is 156 full- and part-time positions.

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From Romenesko:

Cox Newspapers Washington bureau chief Andy Alexander will become the Washington Post’s ombudsman for a two-year term beginning Feb. 2. “He brings with him more than 30 years of experience in the news industry and will be an excellent advocate for our readers,” writes Post publisher Katharine Weymouth. Cox Newspaper announced this week that Alexander’s bureau will shut down in April.

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Cox Newspapers, a subsidiary of Cox Communications and owner of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, says it will shut down its national and international news bureau in Washington, D.C. on April 1, 2009.

A company memo posted on Romenesko says the AJC and Dayton Daily News will “manage their own Washington and international newsgathering independently following the national bureau’s closing through dedicated correspondents in D.C.” Eligible employees of the D.C. bureau will be offered “generous” severance packages and continued employment until March 31. Bureau chief Andy Alexander will retire at the end of the year.

“The Washington news bureau and its chief, Andy Alexander, have an impressive and storied history in Washington and in our company,” Sandy Schwartz, Cox Newspapers president, said in the memo. “For more than 30 years, the reporters of this bureau have broken an untold number of stories that have had an impact on the lives of our readers in cities and towns all across the U.S. The Cox Washington bureau has won or shared virtually every major American journalism award, including the Pulitzer Prize.”

After the jump, read the entire memo. It includes details about Alexander’s career — it’s been an impressive one — and information about the international bureau.

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Last week, 73 Atlanta Journal-Constitution photographers, journalists, editors and staffers left 72 Marietta St. for the final time. Included among them were familiar bylines — Maria Saporta, Michelle Hiskey, Frank Niemier and David Pendered are just to name a few — but also a host of behind-the-scenes characters who helped the paper run and kept the machine moving.

Someone at the AJC assembled a slideshow of those departing staffers and their memories of the job. It was played at a going-away party last week. You can view it here.

It’s an a-to-z 23-minute tribute replete with photographs and a Motown soundtrack. If you love journalism or have felt the bond a work environment can create, it’s a heart-wrenching video to watch. The paper’s losing a lot of excellent talent. We wish all of them the best.

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The rumors are flying about this week’s anticipated shake-up at the AJC, but little is certain. What we’ve heard – though, we stress, have not been able to substantiate – is that the newspaper brass are looking to cut about 60 warm bodies from the newsroom and may pursue a program of buyouts.

We understand that at the Palm Beach Post, another Cox paper, 200 staffers were “invited” to apply for buyout packages in an effort to cut 130 positions – about one-third of the newsroom staff.

Last we checked, the AJC employed a newsroom staff of more than 400 reporters, editors, photographers, etc.

Supposedly, Editor Julia Wallace is expected to convene a staff meeting to announce the latest changes Wednesday or Thursday afternoon. We’ll be watching.

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