TNF Stands With Tampa Bay Times Staffers
It was announced yesterday that the Tampa Bay Times needs to significantly reduce payroll in an effort to cut costs due to a shortfall in projected print advertising revenue.
“The Tampa Bay Times is eliminating 60 jobs this month, 20% of its staff, citing revenue shortfalls compared to its 2024 business plan and limited prospects of improvement for the balance of the year.”
– Poynter Institute for Media Studies, owners of the Times Publishing Company, who didn’t invite us to their gala last year
Obviously, this is terrible news for the staff of the Times, because as we all know, because it’s ALWAYS the case, the 60 people who lose their jobs are going to be the ones who can least afford to be unemployed.
On a bigger picture scale for the Tampa Bay region this is terrible because it’s yet another indicator that the venerable institution is in serious trouble and may be on the way out, regardless of how many employees are sacrificed to stave off that inevitability. This is not the first time they’ve made drastic cutbacks to save money.
Without the Times, there would be exactly two sources of print news in the area: La Gaceta and us, Tampa News Force (TNF). Nobody else provides free news coverage, entertainment content and event presentation.
The thing is, whereas the Tampa Bay Times does good, serious, necessary work, TNF does good, silly, completely unnecessary work. The Tampa Bay Area not only deserves a serious newspaper, it needs a serious newspaper. We (TNF) need a serious newspaper; where do you think we get half the ideas for the nonsense we publish?
TNF sincerely hopes that things turn around for the Tampa Bay Times and that anybody that works there and is about to lose their job lands on their feet because we need you. We all need you.
