Haaretz Group Plans to Lay Off 35 Employees Amid Restructuring

The Haaretz Group informed its employees that it intends to lay off 35 workers next month and reduce an additional five positions without layoffs. According to informed sources, 19 of those affected are journalists covered under the collective agreement, including reporters, editors, and photographers. The remaining 16 employees to be dismissed come from other departments not under the agreement, such as the commercial division. The remaining staff will receive protection from further layoffs until March.

Recently, the group offered a voluntary retirement plan as part of the ongoing restructuring. It remains unclear how the layoffs will be distributed within the organization, particularly how many will be cut from the economic branch, Haaretz's business-focused De Marker. However, sources revealed plans to strengthen Haaretz's English department, news desk, and news division, suggesting that De Marker, the Gallery section, and other departments will bear the brunt of the cuts.

Another development is the planned integration of artificial intelligence tools into the newsroom's workflow. In the coming two weeks, Baruch Shai will join De Marker as editor; he previously served as deputy director of Hebrew television at i24NEWS and as news director at the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation. Notably, the layoffs were announced before Shai officially assumed his new role. The Haaretz Group declined to comment on the matter.

Haaretz and De Marker are competitors of Globes, which disclosed this information in accordance with ethical guidelines to ensure transparency and respectful discourse.