If the AP is getting smaller ...

According to Editor & Publisher, the Associated Press may end 2009 with 10 percent fewer staff -- through attrition, not job cuts. I suppose it's not surprising that the AP will shrink. If their customers -- the newspapers -- are having a tough time, it'll trickle down to the AP, Reuters, Bloomberg and other newswires.

From the AP spokesman:

"The Associated Press, like virtually every business in the world, is defining strategies for operating in these complex and difficult financial times. All areas and ways of doing business are being reviewed. The AP, which recently instituted a strategic hiring freeze, may need to reduce staff over the next year. If so, it hopes to achieve much of the reduction through attrition."