We’re going to have a mini-series this week looking back at some of the top sports media stories in the Boston area from this past year.
#5 on our list of sports media stories is the buyouts and cutbacks seen in sports departments in 2008.
The Boston Globe went through another round of buyouts this year, and columnist Jackie MacMullan, NBA writer Peter May and assistant sports editor Ken Fratus were among those who took buyouts from the paper.
The Providence Journal offered buyouts to its staff, though it doesn’t appear that the sports department was severely impacted.
The Hartford Courant essentially cut all of their day-to-day Boston sports coverage. Patriots beat writer David Heuschkel and Red Sox beat writer Jeff Goldberg were among the casualties of this decision.
The Gatehouse News – which publishes the MetroWest Daily News, Quincy Patriot-Ledger and Brockton Enterprise among their local holdings also had staff cutbacks this year. Daily News Patriots beat writer Douglas Flynn was probably the most high-profile writer who lost his job from the staff reductions.
On the TV side, longtime sports director Bob Lobel took a buyout from WBZ – a story that is bigger than this entry.
Entercom Boston – the parent company of WEEI and WRKO also had staff reductions this year.
