Part two: The heartbreak of U.S. layoffs, told through graphics

Posted by Robb Montgomery on April 13, 2008 at 2:09 PM

Last week we shared the emotional photo documentary from Martin Gee of the San Jose Mercury News. Visual journalism is a powerful tool for conveying the impact and scope of the downsizing that has been happening in U.S. newsrooms.

From photos to graphics map mashups

Erica Smith is a journalist and multimedia designer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and has been teaching herself Web programming skills as she has transitioned into her new newsroom roles. One of her projects has been a Google map mashup where she plots U.S. newspaper layoff announcements.

She documents at her Paper cuts blog that more than 1,711 jobs have been slashed in 2008 and more than 2,185 in 2007.

There is more than just the map here; the data she collects is richly annotated as includes monthly summaries that list the the paper, the number of positions lost and the link to the new story where the job cuts were announced.

For example her tally from November 2007:

NOVEMBER: 305
New York Times: 12
Kansas City Star: 24
USA Today: 43
The Ledger: 18
Reno-Gazette Journal: 10
Herald-Argus: 30 to 40
Cincinnati Post: 53
Cincinnati Enquirer: 30
Daily Southtown: 31
Spokesman-Review: 40
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune: 14

The different colored balloons on the interactive map indicate how many positions were eliminated with red being the highest number - over 100 in one action.