The Miami Herald lost more than 30 editorial positions this week, roughly a third of its newsroom, as parent company McClatchy carried out sweeping layoffs at newspapers across the country. The cuts hit city hall coverage, investigative reporting, and sports, leaving one of Florida's largest newsrooms with gaps in the beats that hold local government accountable.
Among those let go was city hall reporter Tess Riski, according to Miami New Times, which reported that the Herald laid off or eliminated more than 30 editorial positions in total. Sportswriter Michelle Kaufman was also among the layoffs, though she continued covering Inter Miami CF after the announcement, the outlet reported. A newsroom replacement position in the Herald's capital bureau was no longer staffed following the cuts, and that role was considered likely to be eliminated altogether. The Herald's remaining editorial staff did not immediately respond to Miami New Times' emailed request for comment.
The Miami cuts were part of a far larger contraction. The NewsGuild reported that McClatchy eliminated more than 90 unionized journalists across 17 publications nationwide, representing roughly 30 percent of all workers unionized with The NewsGuild-CWA. Miami New Times reported the layoffs affected 13 newsrooms across the United States, with Status, a media-industry outlet, dubbing the round the “McClatchy Massacre.”
Sacramento, Fresno and Lexington Lose Entire Beats
In Sacramento, the Bee's entire sports department was eliminated, according to SFGATE, which named Kings beat reporter Jason Anderson, 49ers beat reporter Chris Biderman, and high school sports reporter Joe Davidson, who had been at the paper for 38 years, among those removed. The Charlotte Observer laid off roughly eight journalists as part of the same round, per Miami New Times, and Miami New Times also reported that McClatchy eliminated the job of Charlotte Observer reporter Amber Gaudet hours after she published an investigation into an area log-cabin company accused of defrauding would-be homeowners. Gaudet and her colleagues had been scheduled to be honored at a North Carolina Press Association awards ceremony, the outlet noted.
In California's Central Valley, the Fresno Bee laid off up to 40 percent of its newsroom staff, including the last remaining staffer dedicated to its bilingual publication, Vida en el Valle, according to The Business Journal. In Kentucky, 12 journalists were laid off at the Lexington Herald-Leader, eliminating the majority of the paper's active reporting roster, the Nieman Journalism Lab reported, adding that paper leadership and McClatchy spokespersons did not respond to requests for comment.
Spanish-Language and Local Government Coverage Hit Hard
Florida Politics reported on the Miami Herald layoffs. The same layoffs affected city hall and capital coverage, according to the outlet's report. Florida Politics founder Peter Schorsch criticized the decision, saying the Miami Herald's decline was caused by business leaders rather than reporters, per Miami New Times.
The accountability gap extends beyond Florida. Florida's Bradenton Herald lost half of its total newsroom, leaving just one editor and two reporters with no dedicated local government accountability reporter or visual journalist, according to The NewsGuild, which noted the paper lost a photographer of 27 years along with its primary municipal government reporter. In Idaho, the Statesman lost 10 journalists, a 33 percent reduction of its union newsroom, according to LocalNews8, which reported the cuts came less than four months after employees staged a May 26 walkout over wages, contract stalemates, and AI integration concerns. The Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild said affected employees' final day was set for October 11, 2026.
Company Cites Revenue Decline and AI Push
McClatchy has said consumer revenue declined 41 percent while local news expenses remained largely flat, a figure the company reported to explain the cuts, per Miami New Times. An internal memo from Greg Farmer, McClatchy's executive vice president of local news, defended the restructuring on those grounds, according to O'Dwyer's, which reported the memo emphasized prioritizing coverage that cannot be easily replicated by competitors. New York Times reporter Katie Robertson reported that McClatchy sent staff an internal memo stating that audiences had more choices, distribution had fragmented, and content had become abundant, and that the local news market had changed dramatically.
The layoffs followed months of rising tension over the company's artificial intelligence push, according to Florida Politics and TheWrap. Unionized newsroom workers had previously protested AI-generated article summaries and forced byline uses, according to the same reporting. Hoodline covered a byline revolt in May, when Sacramento Bee reporters pushed back against a McClatchy AI tool.
McClatchy, which owns 29 daily newspapers across 14 states, declared bankruptcy in 2020 before being acquired by hedge fund Chatham Asset Management, according to O'Dwyer's. According to Poynter, some McClatchy publications cut nearly 40 percent of staff in this round. Among the losses cited by Miami New Times was a Herald reporter who had broken the story about diverted child welfare funds — reporting tied to a Florida grand jury finding that the state's governor diverted $10 million in child welfare funds to a political campaign. McClatchy representatives did not respond to Miami New Times' emailed request for comment.
