Well-known editors and reporters were among those laid off at Bloomberg’s Washington bureau on Thursday, Talking Biz News has confirmed from multiple sources.
Those laid off include:
Tony Gnoffo, who helped direct and edit coverage of U.S. financial regulatory agencies and congressional oversight of the finance industry, as well as Wall Street’s lobbying efforts. Gnoffo had been in that role since February 21012 and before that was an editor who helped launch Bloomberg Government. Before that, he worked at Wharton’s online business publication and was business editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Gnoffo was also business editor of the Trenton Times.
Mark Silva, who was deputy managing editor of U.S. government news. Silva previously worked at the Chicago Tribune, where he covered the G.W. Bush White House and the 2008 presidential campaign, during which he wrote a book on John McCain, all the while feeding The Swamp, early and often. He and Frank James, now at NPR, have been the main sources of inspiration and posts since The Swamp blog about politics began in January 2006.
Jonathan Salant, a political reporter and cofounder and coach of the Bloomberg DC softball team. His last Bloomberg byline resulted in a Congressional investigation. A former president of the Press Club, Salant also worked for the Associated Press and Congressional Quarterly. He had been at Bloomberg for a decade, and one Bloomberg staffer called him one of the “best-sourced reporters covering campaign finance.”
Jim Tyson, who had been the Federal Reserve editor in the bureau for the past six and a half years. He had been with Bloomberg since 1999, writing for Bloomberg Markets magazine and covering U.S. mortgage finance — including Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac — during the advent of the financial crisis. He previously worked for the Christian Science Monitor as its national economy correspondent.
Fred Strasser, the legal editor in Washington. Strasser was previously a Latin America government and economics editor at Bloomberg for eight years, and he was also managing editor of BusinessWeek Small Biz for five years. Strasser was also Washington bureau chief of the National Law Journal for seven years.
Cotten Timberlake, who had covered luxury goods companies out of the DC bureau. She had worked for Bloomberg since 2005.
Ellen Uchimiya, who was Bloomberg Television Washington bureau chief. She came from the Fox News Channel in 2010.
Ryan Kerr, who was a producer for “Political Capital with Al Hunt.”
Julie Slattery, a producer for Bloomberg Television.
Kate Macedo, a production coordinator for Bloomberg Television for the past three years.
Todd Moday, a control and production technician at Bloomberg Television.
Lori Jennings, who was in operations at Bloomberg Television.
Judy Lyons, a producer for Bloomberg Television for the past four years. Lyons had also worked at CNBC and Fox News.
Niharika Acharya, a producer for “Political Capital with Al Hunt” since July 2010.
Colleen Wordock, a producer and assignment editor for Bloomberg Television who had been with the company since 1996.
In addition, Stephanie Stoughton is moving into a newly created role as a team leader in charge of coordinating coverage in Washington among Bloomberg News, Blooomberg Government and other news operations under Bloomberg.
Talking Biz News is trying to verify other names it has received. The layoffs, reported Thursday by Politico and the New York Times, were said to be to make way for Bloomberg’s new political operation fronted by Game Change co-authors Mark Halperin and John Heilemann.
Said one Bloomberg-er: “This also represents a pretty risky and maybe necessary commitment by Bloomberg to build an audience outside of its core terminal subscribers. By laying off experienced print journalists whose first mission has always been to serve the high-paying terminal customers, the company is actually dismantling a part of that core business to build an uncertain digital future that I presume will be supported by advertising — something it has never done successfully. Perhaps its strategists believe they have no choice but to try anyway.”
