The free press in the PNW takes another hit: Cascade PBS shutters its newsroom, putting sixteen staff out of work

In the 1987 flick Broadcast News, an imperious network anchor played by Jack Nicholson professes to comfort his newsroom’s victims of a sweeping layoff.

Somebody asks Nicholson’s character if he was going to relinquish any of his own high salary. The response was a withering look. The questioner apologizes profusely.

Life is imitating art, again. Cascade PBS announced Monday that it is laying off sixteen employees and not filling three vacancies. It will “cease production of long form written journalism.” Longtime CEO Rob Dunlop, in a station memo, lamented “painful cuts to make” from a staff that has served the region “with passion.” He spoke, in familiar language, of “hard choices” and “difficult choices.”

The Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild noted, however, that Dunlop’s annual compensation topped $500,000, according to Cascade PBS’ tax filing with the IRS.

https://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2025/09/the-free-press-in-the-pnw-takes-another-hit-cascade-pbs-shutters-its-newsroom-putting-sixteen-staff-out-of-work.html