OTHER NEWS - May 7, 1993

Daily News Trims Staff: The Daily News has completed a round of staff cuts with the layoffs of 10 newsroom employees and buyouts for 13 others, company and union officials said. The Woodland Hills-based newspaper, saying it wanted to cut costs, originally sought to lay off about 25 newsroom employees. But the Los Angeles Newspaper Guild persuaded company officials to solicit voluntary resignations and unpaid leaves of absences before resorting to forced layoffs. “It’s unfortunate that anybody had to be laid off but it’s much better than when we started out with 25 being chopped,” said Jim Smith, administrative officer for the guild, a union of journalists. All of the journalists let go had worked at the paper a year or less, Smith said. Those who took buyouts--which offered two weeks’ severance pay plus a week’s salary for every year worked on the paper--included music critic Bruce Britt and film critic David Kronke. Last month, the Daily News laid off 10 members of its work force of 1,289 people, including six newsroom employees. On Thursday, James Lacher, executive vice president of the paper’s parent company, Tower Media Inc., which is owned by financier Jack Kent Cooke, told the remaining newsroom staff of about 200 that no more cuts would be made for the rest of the year. Company officials offered no further comment.