More layoffs at the Times Record

Halloween was indeed a scary day for at least 16 employees at the Times Record in Fort Smith.

Officials with Stephens Media, the Las Vegas-based newspaper company that owns the Times Record, cut 16 jobs on Oct. 31. The cuts included long-time employee Nancy Steel, and established photographer Brian Sanderford. The recent job cuts follow a similar round in June, during which business editor Michael Tilley (now with The City Wire staff) was part of about 10 job cuts. The newspaper has cut between 25-30 jobs in 2008 — likely more than 10 percent of its workforce.

Gene Kincy, publisher of the Times Record, did not respond to an e-mail request for more information.

Stephens Media also cut jobs at its bureaus in Little Rock and Washington, D.C. Unconfirmed reports have one reporter job cut in Little Rock, and the four-person staff in Washington being cut to one.

Such cuts are part of an alarming trend in the newspaper industry. Staff cuts in the industry brought newspaper employment to a 17-year low of 353,580 individuals at the end of 2007, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The industry employed 445,700 in 1990, more than 22 percent more than in 2008. Also, a little more than 48 percent of the 102,000 jobs cut in the sector since 1990 were cuts made in the past three years.