Jewish Exponent Lays Off Half Its Staff, Will Continue Publishing
By Pat Loeb
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia's Jewish newspaper, the Jewish Exponent, has laid off its entire editorial and production staff, but says it will continue publishing.
The Exponent is 128 years old and, if it wanted to live to be 129, says marketing chief Steven Rosenberg of its publisher, the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, it had no choice but to fire all 15 people who produced the paper's content.
"Believe me, we looked at every possible alternative," he told KYW Newsradio today. "We had a lot of very smart people take a look, and everybody agreed that this was the only move."
Rosenberg says the Federation made a deal with Mid-Atlantic Media, which puts out Jewish papers in Washington, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh, to continue printing the Exponent, but with a clean slate.
"This is the way they wanted to handle it," Rosenberg says.
He adds that some of the staff understood, since the paper has been losing $300,000 a year, but others were upset. "And frankly, I don't blame them."
The paper retained 12 staff members, including the entire sales staff.