Layoffs Expected to Continue at the Chronicle

While part of an expected cost-cutting move, the losses are devastating to the newspaper industry.

Layoffs were expected to continue at the Chronicle Friday afternoon, though not in the newsroom.

The developments at the Chronicle mirror moves by other major newspapers around the country, trying to survive.

The layoffs weren't considered a surprise, but they were nonetheless painful for longtime reporters. Charlie Goodyear worked for the Chronicle for ten years, before leaving in 2007. He said it was a blow for the Bay Area to lose so many top reporters. "Susan Sward I think has been there thirty years, knew the San Francisco Police Department inside and out, was a key member of the paper's investigative team and I think that will be a real loss of institutional memory."

   KCBS' Holly Quan reports

The Chronicle wouldn't comment, but reportedly told remaining reporters that there would be a minor reorganization before the paper would move on. Part of that evolution could be the recently unveiled e-subscription. It's essentially the print version of the paper, provided in an online format.

"My thought for quite a while has been that newspapers are not going to find kind of a single bolt from the blue new business model," offered Rick Edmonds, a media business analyst for the Poynter Institute. "It's more likely to be developing a number of revenue streams that you know, aren't as big as classifieds used to be, but when you put them together, they will support a business."

One glimmer of hope may be this week's release of the larger Kindle "e-reader," which many see as helping newspapers retain subscribers who like to get their news online.