Another chapter in the long, agonizing death of the newspaper industry.
In a radical restructuring of Utah’s largest newspaper, owner Paul Huntsman proceeded Monday with cutting 34 Salt Lake Tribune employees from a newsroom staff of 90, along with the elimination of key print sections and some well-known writers who were read for generations.
After sounding the alarm last Tuesday, Huntsman ‐ whose wealthy father, philanthropist and Tribune champion Jon Huntsman Sr., died Feb. 2 ‐ enacted a drastic reduction in costs at The Tribune in light of what he said were unexpectedly sharp declines in print circulation and advertising revenues since he bought the Salt Lake City-based publication in 2016.
Along with cutting one in every three newsroom employees, The Tribune will eliminate its high-profile Utah news section Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, having already gone dark with its Monday version of the local news page. Remaining pages devoted to news, features, entertainment, business, sports and puzzles will all contract slightly.
Among those lost to loyal readers is longtime political reporter and columnist Paul Rolly, who voluntarily stepped aside 44 years after beginning his career as a Tribune copy clerk and cub reporter in the paper’s Main Street offices. |