Reuters layoffs take some top journalists

Among the layoffs at Reuters this week are some of the wire service’s best-known editors and reporters.

Peter Bohan, editor of Reuters America Service, the flagship domestic news offering for U.S. publishers and broadcasters, was among those whose jobs were cut, three people within Reuters confirmed to Talking Biz News.

Bohan has been with Reuters since 1983 and has worked as a correspondent in Chicago, editor in Hong Kong, and bureau chief in Singapore and the U.S. Midwest. A native of Galesburg, Ill., he has spent the last six years focused on news in the Midwest for Reuters domestic and international clients. Most recently, he has been the Midwest bureau chief.

Brad Dorfman, U.S. retail and consumer products company news editor at Reuters, also lost his job, two people within Reuters confirmed.

Dorfman has been with Reuters since 1995. He was a reporter covering breaking news and analysis in consumer products and retail, manufacturing, airlines, banking and real estate before becoming an editor in 2010. Dorfman also worked for Knight Ridder Financial News.

Also departing is Lee Aitken, a former enterprise editor at Reuters,who was put in charge of political coverage at in 2012. Prior to Reuters, Aitken helped Tina Brown launch the Daily Beast and the new Newsweek, and oversaw 2008 campaign coverage for Bloomberg.

If you know of any other important people at Reuters who lost their jobs this week and need to be recognized, please let me know at croush@email.unc.edu.