Layoffs occurring at Marketwatch

Marketwatch.com has been trimming its business journalism staffers in the past few weeks, Talking Biz News has learned.

Among those who have lost their jobs include two editors in Washington, and three journalists in Chicago, multiple sources have told Talking Biz News.

The high-profile departures include media columnist Jon Friedman and reporter Steve Gelsi. Friedman confirmed his March 1 departure on Twitter and added that he is looking for a new job. Talking Biz News is told that those laid off were given the option of working one more month.

Former Marketwatch media reporter David Wilkerson, who was with the site for 16 years, is now blogging about the media here and looking for “new opportunities.”

Some of these cuts occurred on Friday when Dow Jones & Co. removed the “acting” before Marketwatch editor Jonathan Krim‘s title. Krim took over last year after longtime editor David Callaway left to become editor of USA Today. One staffer said that 13 journalists who worked with Callaway have left since his departure.

“It’s not like they’re cutting 100 jobs,” said one Marketwatch staffer. “But in our little niche of the world, it’s very upsetting.”

A Dow Jones spokeswoman notes Friday that Marketwatch has also added six positions in the last two months. Krim has also been known in business journalism circles to be seeking a new banking reporter for the site.

Friedman wrote the Media Web column. Before joining MarketWatch in 1999, he covered business and finance for almost two decades for USA Today, BusinessWeek, Bloomberg News and Investors Business Daily.

He is co-author of the expose “House of Cards: Inside the Troubled Empire of American Express” (1992, Putnam) as well as a recent book on musician Bob Dylan. His freelance pieces have appeared in the magazine and business sections of the Sunday New York Times, the American Banker and other publications.

He appears frequently on television and radio programs to discuss news issues, and in 2010 he launched the Web TV show, “Media Matters with Jon Friedman.”

Gelsi has been Marketwatch’s lead IPO reporter based in New York.  He is the author of “CBS MarketWatch, the Story Behind the Numbers … How America Made A Fortune and Lost Its Shirt.”  He previously worked at Forbes.com, BrandWeek and various daily newspapers. He was awarded the Keystone Press Award.