villagevoice

Two editors at Village Voice abruptly hand in their resignation after reportedly being asked to lay off five other people

Village Voice

More changes at the storied Village Voice. A pair of editors handed in their resignations yesterday…

Will Bourne, who became editor last November, and Jessica Lustig, the deputy editor since January, met with the staff at 11 a.m. on Thursday to announce their departure. In a phone interview, Mr. Bourne said that Christine Brennan, executive editor of Voice Media Group, had told them to lay off, or drastically reduce the roles of, five employees on the 20-person staff. Rather than carry out the cuts, he and Ms. Lustig resigned and left immediately, in the middle of closing next week’s paper.

Bourne commented to the New York Times that he was told that the “bloodletting had come to an end” when he came on board and that he would not “preside over further layoffs.”

The Voice subsequently denied the layoffs, but insisted that “further structural and staffing changes” were required.