Layoffs at Both the Philadelphia Inquirer and Beasley Media

The cuts you first heard about this afternoon go a little deeper than what you’ve probably seen publicly.

Both the Philadelphia Inquirer and Beasley Media had layoffs on Tuesday.

At the Inquirer, Josh Tolentino confirmed his exit in a series of Tweets:

Some news: I was laid off today from the Philadelphia Inquirer.

It was an absolute joy and privilege to cover the Philadelphia Eagles over the past three years.

I’m extremely proud of the work produced, but I am even more excited for whatever is ahead. https://t.co/5fPZjqYvq7

— Josh Tolentino (@JCTSports) May 7, 2024

Tolentino did three seasons on the Eagles beat, though in recent months had been writing feature stories hitting on a variety of sports topics. He joined the Inquirer in the summer of 2021, when a large batch of hires followed the buyout round precipitated by the BLM-inspired employee revolt.

There were four other Inquirer employees let go – two shooters, a digital photo editor, and one support staffer. That was confirmed by the NewsGuild of Philadelphia, which posted a lengthy social media thread and written statement from President Diane Mastrull, noting the following:

This follows the elimination of 32 Guild members in February in what technically was a buyout but would have been layoffs had those employees not accepted buyouts.

That’s nearly 40 Guild members put out of work this year. That’s some kind of people-focused, creative management.

Again, let me remind you that when this company’s ownership was taken over by the Lenfest Foundation, there was much boasting about how we were now different from other newspaper companies. We were owned by a nonprofit, without the insidious slash-and-burn tendencies of hedge funds and absent the pressure of having to satisfy shareholders, we were told.

And yet, The Inquirer is resorting to the same inhumane, callous, lazy, uncreative playbook that such forms of ownership turn to again and again  — cutting employees.

In numerous meetings with the company over the last several weeks, Guild executive director Bill Ross and I have pleaded with the company to reconsider a course that only serves to demoralize employees and send a message to the outside world that we’re a failing company.

But The Inquirer has chosen to respond the same way it did to employee surveys that gave high scores to the company’s hybrid work policy that required employees to come to the office just one day a week: with a big middle finger and an unmistakable message: “We don’t care what you think. We’re going to do what we want.”

These layoffs had been in the works since early April, or at least that’s when a source first mentioned it to Crossing Broad. It was a bit of a head scratcher at the time, considering almost three dozen people departed just two months prior. The Inquirer has gone through about a half dozen of these buyout/layoff rounds in just a few years.

The Beasley Media cuts went deeper than the Inquirer cuts, and included the departure of The Best Show Ever? co-host and producer Jen Scordo. Scordo was a WXTU anchor before sliding over to 97.5 when Natalie Egenolf left. Another on-air Fanatic host, who has not publicly announced the news, was let go later in the day. In addition, we’re told that a number of longtime producers and behind the scenes folks were also laid off, part of a company-wide initiative to reduce the work force by 7%. Sources told Crossing Broad the Philly cuts included on air, sales, marketing, and production employees spanning the entirety of the cluster, which includes the Fanatic, 93.3 WMMR, 102.9 WMGK, WXTU, and 95.7 BEN FM. This follows a 24-month period that saw Beasley let go of Jamie Lynch, Hunter Brody, Paul Jaxon, Charlie Maxx, Eric Camille, and other behind-the-scenes employees.

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