Journalists Who Tweet About Being Laid Off: Necessary or Just Awkward?

We’ve talked a lot on the blog about how Twitter for journalists can be a blessing and a curse.

It can be used for finding sources, breaking news and making connections regarding potential work — but for announcing you’ve been laid off?

Laurie Muchnick, who was the highly-respected books editor at Bloomberg up until Monday, tweeted this to her nearly 6,000 followers:

“Not sure how to put this so here goes: Bloomberg is cutting arts coverage, including books, so today was my last day there.”

Later in the day, the New York Times reported the employee cutbacks in the arts and sports departments, adding that Bloomberg plans to focus more on its finance and government beats instead.

Muchnick, who left Newsday for Bloomberg in 2007, is also the National Book Critics Circle president and received dozens of encouraging messages from colleagues and admirers of her work as a result of her tweet, but the whole...

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