Denver Post employees walk out of the newsroom in protest of staff cuts

Denver Post employees have walked out to protest cuts to local news.

Newspapers have been cutting jobs around the country, and industry observers estimate there are 20,000 fewer newsroom jobs now than 20 years ago. The Pew Research Center in its most recent State of the News Media report said that at least 400 cuts, layoffs and buyouts have been announced at newspapers nationwide this year. And it’s only June.

Some of those buyouts are at the Denver Post. The Newspaper Guild makes its case on the local situation here. The target of the protest is Alden Global Capital, a hedge fund that owns Digital First Media, the parent company of the Denver Post and dozens of other newspapers.

Denver Councilman Kevin Flynn, who was a long-time reporter at the Rocky Mountain News, the Post’s rival until its abrupt closure in 2009, decried corporate ownership and described meeting now with council colleagues in the former press room where reporters once had to jockey for seats.

“What the decline in local news coverage means is a less informed electorate,” he said.