Updated with photos, edits and additional. 1p
Some popular bylines at the Kenosha News are disappearing.
Two editors and two 'Guild' members accepted a "voluntary separation plan" as the daily newspaper sought to cut costs.
Editorial Page Editor Steve Lund, Sports Editor Dave Marran, reporter Diane Giles and sports columnist and layout man Paul McKillip are gone.
Editor Joe Potente resigned last month. A replacement is being sought.
In announcing the moves in today's paper, Publisher Randy Rickman said the four who left this week won't be replaced, at least not now.
"We're going to be affected in the short term because these individuals all contributed to content or leadership in the newsroom," Rickman was quoted as saying. "They were all well-known in our community, and when they leave it hurts," he said.
Bill Siel is President of the Kenosha Newspaper Guild, the union that represents reporters, photographers and others at the paper. "They (management) considered some difficult options and they selected an option that included bargaining in good faith with the Guild," Siel said in a WGTD News interview. "They did fulfill their responsibility and we did ours and came up with some terms that netted some results that they were looking for with as little measure of pain as could be expected in a scenario like this."
Print publications across the country are facing pressure as revenues decline or stagnate. "There's no decline in people's curiosity and (interest in) information," Siel said. "I don't see anybody covering Kenosha in a print medium like the Kenosha News does."
He said the remaining staffers will pick up the slack.
A spokesperson for the paper said no additional reductions were planned.
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