Here's One Media Layoff Story You Won't Read in the New York Post

Keith Kelly Will Have To Go Silent, Assuming He Still Has a Job

The Daily Beast has word of corona virus-related layoffs at the New York Post. Finally.

Finally, in that the Murdochs have let the Post bleed rivers of red ink for decades, partially because they can and mostly so they can piss off Andrew Cuomo and Bill De Blasio.

The newsroom has usually run thin, but the sports section is still laden with top-shelf columnists and beat writers. There's also solid coverage of the media industry, real estate and entertainment. And, of course, Page Six is well, Page Six. Estimates have put the Post's annual losses at as far north of $100 million a year. Old Man Murdoch may have viewed that as a rounding error as the price for influence. But that was apparently then.

COVID-19 has laid waste to ad budgets. Newspapers here, there and everywhere have gone on a furlough and layoff frenzy. Others stopped printing and went online. Some have pulled up stakes for good. The Post, mostly under the auspices of media columnist/uber maven Keith Kelly, has been dutifully reporting on the misfortunes of other companies, like Gannett and McClatchy.

And now this. At least a dozen staffers got the axe, while some part-timers are now on a long-time furlough, according to the Daily Beast. So far, only one reporter has revealed his fate, 16-year veteran Rich Calder.

I was laid off from @nypost yesterday due to the economic crisis. It was a wild 16-year ride, including the last 5 covering City Hall, that I'm glad I took! And I am humbled by the outpouring of support I’ve since received from the Room 9 crew, ex-colleagues & so many others! 1/2

— Rich Calder (@Rich_Calder) April 30, 2020

 But he has company. And they have names besides misery.

UPDATE: 5/1/20 at 11:20 a.m.

Longtime sports writer of distinction Kevin Kernan gave his -30- on Twitter.

After 23 years the Parting Glass was raised to me at NYPost. Blessed run, 44 years total. From Thurman, Goose, Reggie, LT, Bernard, Bird, Magic, Michael, Patrick, Doc, Gwynn, Seau, Eli, Derek, A-Rod, Piazza, Wright, deGrom, Judge, Alonso, AMBS delivered. Thanks for being there.

— Kevin Kernan (@AMBS_Kernan) May 1, 2020

Articles Without the C-Word

If You Look Hard Enough, Reporters Occasionally Write About Something Else

Want to read about something else? Thought so. Here are a few items worth catching up to.

Los Angeles Times—Let My People Go—to the movies. To get you into the proper frame of mind for Passover and Easter, a dozen flicks with a connection however tenuous. Can you really watch Uncut Gems a second time without reaching for the Xanax?

Washington Post—Tzi Ma Is Changing What It Means to Be Hollywood’s Go-To Asian Dad. You know the face. Now remember the name.

Chicago Tribune—How you can be rescued from the parental hell of trying to placate picky eaters.

Philadelphia Inquirer—The City of Brotherly Love is a union town, even on Tinder.

Pitchfork—Watch These Nature Webcams While You Listen to This Music---When your pot dispensary won’t deliver.

Star-Tribune—WCCO Film Critic Dishes on his “Modern Family” cameo. Or what happens when 

you’re a frat buddy with the executive producer.

San Francisco Chronicle—Tomorrow’s SNL Could be Best or Worst Episode Ever---Not Live From New York, It’s…

Atlanta Journal-Constitution—Iconic Apollo 13 ‘Successful Failure’ Marks 50^th Anniversary---Guess it’s kind of worthy of celebration. Beats the alternative.

The New York Times Doesn't Shrink From Adversity

Despite Few Ads, Today's Print Edition Still Pretty Hefty

Those of us who still crave the print edition of The New York Times pay a premium for what is now a privilege. Home delivery clocks in for the metropolitan area at a turn-and-cough $72 a month (though, you can get it down if you call customer service and see if they have any specials, as I do periodically).

Dean Baquet and Co. have not let us down. It would be tempting, as many media outlets have, to scale down the news hole as advertisers have fled. But this is the Times. And in times like these, we need the Times more than ever.

Today's 52-page edition has two full-page ads on the backs of sections, a couple of jewelry ads on A3, a half-page real estate ad on A5 from a broker anxious to offload a couple of estates in New Jersey, a small movie ad, a few classifieds and that's it. There are a few house ads, as there always are, but otherwise it's all the news that's fit to print and then some.

True, the Times has made a few coronavirus concessions. The two weekend arts sections have been consolidated into one for the last month. No loss if there's nothing new opening. And the sports section is now down to a couple of pages. But you'd have expected that. Instead, there's more room for obits, COVID-19 related or otherwise. Unfortunately, there's been quite the parade of farewells, including today Mort Drucker, the great Mad magazine artist and arts patron Anne Bass, who gets a delightfully detailed writeup by Deborah Solomon.

Granted, it won't take you as long to read the Sunday Times as it normally would. The Travel section is content challenged, as is Real Estate and Arts & Leisure. But there's still enough to justify unfurling from your fetal position to read as you take comfort from knowing COVID-19 won't endure, but the Times will.