LA Times

Multi-tasking is the byword as the division seeks to pare staff after a ‘tough year.’

By Matea Gold

Bowing to economic pressures, ABC News is launching a top-to-bottom restructuring that will shrink the staff by as much as 25% and dramatically reorient the way it gathers and produces the news.

ABC News President David Westin laid out the plan in an e-mail to employees Tuesday, saying the network “will undergo a fundamental transformation that will ultimately affect every corner of the enterprise.” The emphasis in the pared-down news division will be on “digital journalists” who can both produce and shoot their own stories, a model increasingly being adopted in television news.

Executives seek to cut between 300 and 400 staff members, about a quarter of the 1,400-person news division. All nonunion employees are being offered the opportunity to apply for voluntary buyouts, an unusual move that Westin backed as a way to cushion the dramatic changes in store. If not enough staff seek to leave on their own, layoffs will follow.

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