KCNC-4, the CBS-owned television station in Denver laid off 6 newsroom staffers on Wednesday, including weekend morning anchor Arturo Santiago.
Newsroom personnel have told the Denver Post engineering positions may be cut as well and that management is combining layoffs with attrition to reduce the employee total.
News director Tim Wieland blames the cuts on the economy and the general state of the journalism industry.
KOVR-13, the CBS station in Sacramento is also laying off employees. Bruno Cohen, president of KOVR and KMAX-31 (a CW affiliate) did not want to confirm the number of jobs or to identify which positions would be affected. He told the Sacramento Bee the layoffs are “the consequence of new technology,” as there will be more “automation in our production” and “nonlinear, computer-based editing.”
WTXF-Fox 29 eliminated 4 newswriters this week. Industry sources have told Laura Nachman, from Philly TV and Radio, that the Fox29 writers, producers, and some talent are about to become unionized. Currently, only Fox29 photographers are union.