The Detroit News cut more newsroom staff this week, including personal finance columnist Brian O'Connor.

Other journalists exiting, according to a memo from Detroit News Publisher and Editor Jon Wolman and Managing Editor Gary Miles that was obtained by Crain's:

Graphics: editor Tim Summers and artist Aaron Hightower

Photo: editor Chris Farina and photographers Brandy Baker, Donna Terek and Steve Perez

Local news and business: Nick Assendelft and Brian O'Connor

Sports: copy editor Dave Holzman and night editor Ruben Luna

Assistant Editorial Page Editor Nick Hahn

Copy desk: Bruce Mason

Digital: Scott Zacharias

Editorial assistants: Alesia Cunningham and Kyla Smith

The memo pointed out that no reporting positions were eliminated in the latest round of cuts.

"With these notifications now complete, we’ll be restructuring our coverage groups to serve the community on our digital and print platforms," the memo said.

The News and the Detroit Free Press have been cutting newsroom staff, both unionized journalists and management, in a round of budget trims announced in November.

It was previously reported that layoff volunteers at The News included sports editor Phil Laciura, night photo editor Charlotte Massey, Assistant Managing Editor Michael Brown, and sports copy editor Craig Mantey. State government reporter Chad Livengood is leaving The News to work for Crain's Detroit Business.

That's 20 newsroom employees total exiting The News.

Messages seeking details about the cuts were sent to Miles and the local newspaper union.

In a memo to the newsroom last week, Wolman and Miles said the Capitol reporter and the sports editor positions would be filled with new hires.

In November, The News offered buyouts to its entire newsroom to meet its budget demands. Shortly after, the Free Press said it would seek 17 newsroom staffers to voluntarily leave (later reduced to 16). If neither paper had enough volunteers, they said they would resort to layoffs.

Volunteers got severance deals.

The staffing cuts are not entirely caused by local market conditions.

In October, Bob Dickey, CEO of Virginia-based Detroit Free Press owner Gannett Co. Inc. (NYSE: GCI), announced a 2 percent workforce cut companywide, estimated at 350 jobs across 100-plus news outlets. Cuts were expected to affect newsrooms, business staff and Gannett's corporate headquarters. Gannett said the move would save it $10 million in the fourth quarter and $30 million next year.

New York City hedge fund Alden Global Capital LLC owns The News. And both newspapers' basic business functions — advertising, printing, delivery, etc. — are managed under an entity called Michigan.com (formerly the Detroit Media Partnership) while maintaining separate newsrooms.

Both newspapers for years have been cutting staff because of budget pressures fueled by sharp declines in advertising revenue and circulation. Both have invested in digital operations, but revenue from online sources has made up only a fraction of the declines in print revenue. Neither paper will discuss its finances.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20161216/NEWS/161219863/detroit-news-cuts-finance-columnist-editors-photo-staffers