Sports reporter Lauren Read, food and arts reporter Sally Pollak, and higher education and Burlington reporter Cory Dawson confirmed on social media that they would be leaving the newspaper.
The cuts to the newsroom come on the heels of a report by Politico’s Ken Doctor that Gannett, the largest newspaper company in the country, which owns the Free Press, would be reducing its company-wide workforce by 2 percent.
The layoffs reduce the paper’s editing and reporting staff from 21 to 18, according to a staff directory posted on the website.
Just last week, the Free Press announced that former president Jim Fogler would return to the top job, replacing Al Getler. Fogler is president of both Free Press Media in Burlington and Poughkeepsie Journal Media in New York, another Gannett-owned publication.
Fogler did not immediately return a call from VTDigger.
In a post on her Facebook page, Pollak, a veteran of the newspaper, posted that she had been laid off.
“it was a good run: 25 years covering vermont,” she said. “thanks to everyone for talking with me and reading my stuff.”
Sports reporter Lauren Read posted on Twitter that Tuesday is her last day at the paper after four years there.
2. I am proud the work that I did and that @bfp_sports did while I was there, I loved my job and everyone in the local sports scene
— Lauren Read (@LaurenReadVT) October 25, 2016
Cory Dawson, a recent University of Vermont grad and a former VTDigger intern, was also cut, after less than five months working at the paper.
Dawson confirmed the layoff on Facebook, and referenced an estimate from Pew Research Center that there are 20,000 fewer reporters today than two decades ago.
“That means 20,000 fewer people who are paid to ask questions of the powerful. 20,000 fewer people who strive to look at every situation with fresh eyes and find the truth, wherever it may be and publish it without fear or favor,” he wrote.
“Make that 20,003. For now.”
Jim Fogler was named to replace Al Getler as publisher last week. Fogler is a former publisher at the Free Press and will now also serve as publisher of the Poughkeepsie Journal.
