California Newsrooms Hit by McClatchy Layoffs Across Multiple Papers
McClatchy announced a broad restructuring that cut staff at more than a dozen newspapers, with California papers such as the Sacramento Bee, Modesto Bee, and Fresno Bee losing up to 40% of their staff and more than 90 journalists affected nationwide. The company says the changes realign resources with subscriber interests to ensure long-term sustainability after its bankruptcy-era ownership by Chatham Asset Management. Unions criticized the move as harming local watchdog coverage, noting layoffs across reporters, photographers and videographers. Named laid-off staff include Civic Watchdog Reporter David Taub, longtime photographer Craig Kohlruss, reporters Maria G. Ortiz-Briones and Melissa Montalvo, and others across several papers.
