New York Times copy editors facing potential buyouts wrote a letter to the newspaper’s top two editors Wednesday rebuking the decision by their bosses to emphasize reporting over editing.
The letter to executive editor Dean Baquet and managing editor Joe Kahn is signed by the “copy desk.”
“Dean and Joe: We are your readers, and you have turned your backs on us,” the letter says. “We abhor your decision to wipe out the copy desk.”
Poynter first reported on the existence of the letter.
According to the letter, the Times is planning to reduce its copy editing staff from more than 100 editors to 50 or 55.
In its letter, the copy desk staff called that drop “dumbfoundingly unrealistic” and asked Baquet and Kahn to “work with us on a new number.”
Poynter reported that if the Times can’t induce enough employees with buyouts, layoffs could follow.
The copy desk staff wrote that they are being targeted because an internal report recommended the elimination of “low-value editing.”
They claim that “morale is low throughout the newsroom.”
“Many of us, from editors to reporters to photo editors to support staff, are angry, embittered and scared of losing our jobs,” the copy desk staff wrote.
