The NY Times will cut 100 jobs, roughly 8 percent, from it's newsroom staff by the end of the year through voluntary buyouts and layoffs if needed. The announcement came in a memo from editor Bill Keller Monday.

This layoff comes as part of a string of reductions for the paper due to the recession. Last year about 100 positions were cut as well as the staff taking a 5 percent pay cut this year. The drop in advertising which the paper depends on for revenue is indicative of the hard times all Americans are feeling.

This means that the biggest newspaper in the country will be reducing it's services yet again. It is unfortunate that during a time in such dire need of in-depth watchdog journalism papers are getting cut instead of expanding.

Though the departments and sections most affected by this reduction have not been identified yet, they will surely be devastated. When there are less reporters there is less coverage. Less coverage means many stories will go overlooked and uncovered due to lack of resources.

Political scandals and discrepancies will go unchecked if there are not vigilant reporters checking facts and keeping politicians honest. Organizations putting on helpful local events will go overlooked because there are not enough local reporters to cover them. Cuts just result in less information distributed to the public during a time where community matters more than ever.

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