Further contributing to the notion that owners and management are no friend to journalists at the Tribune company, the Chicago Tribune has announced a new round of voluntary buyouts in its newsroom. The paper didn't say how many buyouts it has planned, but it was forthright about its need to "reduce costs as it continues to grapple with a changing media landscape and challenging economy." Editor Gerry Kern also suggested there could be future layoffs, saying, "we prefer to meet our financial goals entirely through this voluntary plan, but other actions may be required." Newsroom employees should be worried. Last year, shortly after the Tribune said it wanted to invest in a "bigger, better" paper, it laid off 20 people. Owner Sam Zell has a reputation for spearheading painful staff reductions, so it sounds like if not enough people take buyouts, layoffs won't be far behind.

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Adam Martin