On Monday’s edition of his radio show, New York Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay tore into Tronc for Monday’s layoffs at the New York Daily News.
Kay, who worked at the paper from 1989-92 (and briefly again in 1993), called the layoffs “inconceivable” while also praising the Daily News as a “New York City institution”. Kay also lambasted Tronc for laying off John Harper, Frank Isola, and Mike Mazzeo, who is currently in Tampa covering the Yankees-Rays series.
.@RealMichaelKay sounds off on Monday's @NYDailyNews layoffs. pic.twitter.com/pMBFUmdLMI
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) July 23, 2018
He also called Tronc’s plan to cover the Yankees with wire services as “small-town America,” “not New York City,” and an “absolute disgrace”. Kay also vowed to cancel his subscription, called Tronc “money-hungry slobs,” and said that “every time a newspaper dies, a little bit of our democracy starts to flicker out”.
This is a pretty passionate rant from Kay, who obviously cares a great deal about this subject. Regardless of how you feel about the Daily News, it’s embarrassing that the paper won’t have a Yankees beat writer. With so many options, if you’re a Yankees fan, you have zero reason to read the Daily News and its “coverage” of the Yankees in the second half of this season (and beyond).
Tronc may have thought their layoffs made sense in a vacuum, but given the massive backlash that has popped up today following the mass firings, they did not seem to make much sense in reality.
