Since about the time that Tina Brown took over the fate of Newsweek, staffers there have been waiting for the final housecleaning. According to a spokesman for the magazine, that will begin today: We hear about 30 employees were offered a buyout package. “Today we announced a voluntary buyout program to a portion of the Guild-covered Newsweek editorial staff,” said Newsweek Daily Beast Company spokesman Andrew Kirk. “In any merger, there are potential overlapping functions. This was an important next step in the combination of the Newsweek and Daily Beast operations and we look forward to a re-energized and successful future for our unified team.” (The Guild told Keith Kelly about this earlier today.) And so the transformation from staid newsweekly to a buzzy new “Vanity Fair meets The New Yorker” begins in earnest.
