Thursday, May 07, 2009

Usually the Cricket hears about movie critics who have lost their jobs from second-hand sources. This one comes from the critic himself.

"I've been reassigned to GA on the Metro desk. They're not replacing the position," read the e-mail the Cricket received this afternoon from Phil Villareal, movie critic for the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson.

Villareal's reassignment was "particularly disturbing," opined Movie City News editor David Poland on his Hot Blog, because "Phil has been one of the most net-forward print critics in adding a New Media edge to his work, with video before video got cool, but also with reach-outs to aggregators, always concious of delivering content that was more than 'just another review.' "

Villareal is the 55th movie critic who has lost his or her job - to reassignment, buyout, layoffs, retirement or publication failure - since January 2006. He's also the 11th this year. Here's the full list:

1. Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times, buyout, 2006
2. Steve Ramos, Cincinnati CityBeat, position eliminated, April 2006
3. Margaret A. McGurk, Cincinnati Enquirer, reassigned, spring 2006
4. Jami Bernard, New York Daily News, contract not renewed, May 2006
5. Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News, buyout, fall 2006
6. Bonnie Britton, Indianapolis Star, reassigned, fall 2006
7. Dennis Lim, Village Voice, laid off, October 2006
8. Michael Atkinson, Village Voice, laid off, October 2006
9. Mark Burger, Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal, laid off, November 2006

10. Barbara Lester, CityLink (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), position eliminated, early 2007
11. Bob Ross, Tampa Tribune, laid off, April 2007
12. Robert Denerstein, Rocky Mountain News, buyout, May 2007
13. Phoebe Flowers, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, reassigned, May 2007
14. Dave Gathman, Elgin (Ill.) Courier-News, staff reorganization, May 2007
15. Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, buyout, summer 2007
16. Jack Garner, Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle, retired, June 2007
17. Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune, quit, July 2007
18. Rob Nelson, City Pages (Minneapolis-St. Paul), position eliminated, August 2007
19. Matt Soergel, Florida Times-Union, reassigned, October 2007
20. Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle, buyout, October 2007
21. Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press, buyout, December 2007
22. Jack Mathews, New York Daily News, retired, December 2007
23. Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader, retired, December 2007

24. Ed Bradley, Flint (Mich.) Journal, buyout, January 2008
25. David Elliott, San Diego Union-Tribune, laid off, January 2008
26. Jan Stuart, Newsday, buyout, March 2008
27. Gene Seymour, Newsday, buyout, March 2008
28. Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News, reassigned, March 2008
29. Mary F. Pols, Contra Costa Times/Oakland Tribune, buyout, March 2008
30. Nathan Lee, Village Voice, laid off, March 2008
31. David Ansen, Newsweek, buyout, March 2008
32. Kevin Crust, The Los Angeles Times, buyout, March 2008
33. Glenn Kenny, Premiere, terminated, May 2008
34. Stephen Hunter, The Washington Post, buyout, May 2008
35. Desson Thomson, The Washington Post, buyout, May 2008
36. Hap Erstein, The Palm Beach Post, buyout, July 2008
37. Lance Goldenberg, Creative Loafing (Tampa Bay), laid off, August 2008
38. Bruce Bennett, New York Sun, paper ceases publication, October 2008
39. S. James Snyder, New York Sun, paper ceases publication, October 2008
40. Craig Outhier, East Valley Tribune (Mesa, Ariz.), laid off, October 2008 (effective January 2009)
41. Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle, buyout, October 2008
42. Carina Chocano, The Los Angeles Times, laid off, October 2008
43. Betsy Pickle, Knoxville (Tenn.) News-Sentinel, laid off, November 2008
44: Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Daily News, laid off, December 2008

45: Ella Taylor, LA Weekly, laid off, January 2009
46: Andy Klein, LA CityBeat, laid off, January 2009
47: Melissa Anderson, Time Out New York, laid off, January 2009
48: Larry Ratliff, San Antonio Express-News, laid off, January 2009
49: Bob Strauss, Los Angeles Daily News, reassigned, February 2009
50: William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, laid off (paper folded to online only), March 2009
51: Soren Andersen, The News-Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.), buyout, March 2009
52: Daniel Neman, Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch, laid off, April 2009
53: Lawrence Toppman, Charlotte Observer, reassigned, April 2009
54: Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle, buyout, April 2009
55: Phil Villareal, Arizona Daily Star (Tucson), reassigned, May 2009

Labels: disappearing critics