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WJLA's "Massive" Talent Layoffs: "It's Like Losing Everything at Once"

Some were called at home with the news, like 26 year veteran journalist Andrea McCarren.  "They said I didn't need to come in today, McCarren told the Washington Post.

"I'm not bitter, but I am sad."  

Reporter Sarah Lee was in the field, working the early morning shift.  She got a call telling her to come directly back to the newsroom.  "I don't take it personally," she told the Post.  "My contract was up, and I was legally eligible to be let go."  Lee is pregnant, and will be out of a job when her contract expires at the end of February.

WJLA/DC's 26-employee layoff was described by some as a "bloodbath," and spread to other Allbritton-owned newsrooms across the country.  WJLA reporter Alisa Parenti told the Post's Neely Tucker, "it's just amazing to think how things were 20 years ago in this business and how they are now.  I loved my job, the people I worked with.  It's like losing everything at once."
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