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The Dallas Morning News will lay off 43 employees as part of a company-wide restructuring, the paper announced on Monday. Of those departing, 20 will be writers, with the rest comprised of editors and support staff.

In a statement to the paper, publisher Grant Moise said he was looking to pivot the Morning News toward a subscription model.

“After considerable thought and analysis, our management team has determined that our business in the future is largely supported by subscription revenue and the need for more aggressive investment in our digital products,” he said.

Moise declined to offer anything further to TheWrap.

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Like so many other local papers, The Dallas Morning News has been beset by circulation falloff and declining revenue. Earnings for the publication’s parent company A. H. Belo Corporation declined roughly 20 percent in 2018, according to the paper. The cuts to the Texas daily account for roughly four percent of the A. H. Belo workforce and were characterized by the paper as a “company-wide reorganization.”

“We are rebalancing our financial resources to support these new foundational elements so we are positioned for success and can deliver quality journalism for many years to come,” Moise said.

“So many talented journalists are leaving @dallasnews today who will announce their status on their own terms. This should be another grim reminder that local news is at risk, and with it a vital part of democracy. For now, there’s still a paper to get out,” Dom Difurio, a producer at the paper, said on Twitter Monday shortly after the news broke.

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The shakeup in Dallas is the first major media layoff of 2019 and suggests many of the broader industry headwinds that have been plaguing regional papers for years are not abating. A growing number of publications have decided to institute paywalls and subscription revenue models, which has provided a safe harbor for some (like The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post), but is proving far riskier for digital-first properties and city papers like the Morning News.

In 2018, similar dramatic layoffs were witnessed at both New York’s Daily News and The Denver Post.

11 Media Losers of 2018, From Les Moonves to Michael Avenatti (Photos)

2018 was hard for a lot of media folks, but particularly so for this rogues' gallery. For some, it was MeToo. For others, industry headwinds were too much. And for more still, disgrace and ignominy came after just saying the wrong thing.
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Les Moonves: Once celebrated for his leadership at CBS, Moonves faced multiple allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct for which he was ultimately fired. CBS said in December that it would seek to deny him a roughly $120-million severance package.
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Laura Ingraham: Long a divisive figure (even on the right), the Fox News host might have avoided the losers' column were it not for a sponsor boycott launched against her by Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg in March. Months later, advertisers are still wary of appearing on the program.

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Michael Ferro/Tronc: The leadership of Michael Ferro has now made Tronc synonymous with mismanagement. In addition to leaving the top job with a #MeToo scandal over his head, Ferro is now facing accusations of making anti-semitic remarks and paying off an LA Times editor who reportedly had the comments on tape.
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Media Publishers: From Mic.com on the left to The Weekly Standard on the right, publishers came in for a beating, with some closing up entirely. With few exceptions, legacy shops saw print sales decline, while digital-first properties continue to face the crushing economics of turning pageviews into profits.
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Breitbart: It's a name you probably haven't heard for a while. Once a key part of the engine which powered Trump's improbable election, the website had long fallen off most radars. A sustained pressure campaign against advertisers on the site by Sleeping Giants has also taken a bite out of revenue.

Also Read: Breitbart and Drudge Hit by Google Cloud Issue, Go Offline
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Marc Lamont Hill: Once a CNN regular, Hill lost his job as a contributor on the network after making remarks about Israel and Palestine at the UN that many called anti-semitic. A chummy photo with Louis Farrakhan -- who has compared Jews to termites -- didn't help matters for him either. He remains a tenured professor at Temple University.

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CBS and "60 Minutes": Both the network and its marquee news program took a beating this year. "60 Minutes" executive producer Jeff Fager was forced out in a MeToo scandal, while details of an investigation launched by the network generally hit the press before reaching top management.
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Michael Avenatti: Just months ago, the lawyer representing Stormy Daniels in her legal fight with Donald Trump was considered a serious presidential contender. But his reputation took a hit after taking on a questionable MeToo claim against Brett Kavanaugh, and he disappeared for good after being booked on felony domestic violence charges in November (though he was not charged).

Also Read: Michael Avenatti Says He Won’t Run for President in 2020 After All
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Andy Lack: The MSNBC/NBC News chief had a rough 2018. His network's decision to pass on Ronan Farrow's historic MeToo reporting continues to reverberate. His big bet on Megyn Kelly also flopped and became a multi-million dollar ulcer which still remains far from resolved.
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Gavin McInnes: Always on the fringes, McInnes had nevertheless carved a niche for himself as an online provocateur, a host on CRTV and as the head of his own (occasionally violent/racist) fraternal organization, The Proud Boys. By the end of 2018, he was banned from Twitter, dropped by CRTV and had resigned from The Proud Boys.
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Univision: Univision spent $135 million on Gawker Media back in 2016 and has spent most of the time since mismanaging the former properties and being called out by its own writers. Amid buyouts to editorial and broad layoffs elsewhere, Univision revealed it is looking to cut its losses and unload the websites once and for all.

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2018 was a rough year for media, and for this rogues’ gallery, the damage was particularly catastrophic

2018 was hard for a lot of media folks, but particularly so for this rogues' gallery. For some, it was MeToo. For others, industry headwinds were too much. And for more still, disgrace and ignominy came after just saying the wrong thing.

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