Dear Readers I am a former CCT reporter who first cut her teeth as a reporter there six years ago. In that time, I tried my best to help produce quality, probing and unique stories. I believed, and still do, that questioning and a variety of voices and perspectives is not merely essential to the communities we served, but vital to our society as a whole. But in the five months since I've left the CCT newsroom, I've been heartbroken by the series of management events taking place there -- decisions that have beleaguered workers and threaten to undermine the Contra Costa Times. On Feb. 19, CCT's publisher, and previous executive editor, John Armstrong announced that EB-BANG, owned by Denver-based Media News, would be offering buy-out packages to all employees in an effort to hastily shave off "unspecified" payroll costs. The move, Armstrong explained, was in response to "the challenging Bay Area economic climate, and the prospect that it will be with us for another 12 to 18 months." There is not enough space here to enumerate the pitfalls of this strategy seen in newsrooms across the country in response to the obvious economic challenges. On a larger scale, CCT is just another news outlet to line up on the slippery slope. But these newsroom cuts affect not merely reporters, print men, and other newspaper workers. You, dear Contra Costa and Alameda readers, will also feel the prik. The proof will be in the breadth and depth of reporting, in print and on the web -- gone will be the days of thoughtful and thorough coverage of the community; obliterated and homogenized will be the coverage of such 'regional beats' as science, in an area that touts that largest scientific centers in the country; absent will be the voices of hard-earned experience and sourcing. And this is just small peak of the future we face. Dear reader, it's true that you may not have a say, or care for that matter, in what happens to the LA Times, the Chicago Tribune, or other newsrooms where gouging has trumped creative solutions to the economic challenges. You do, however, a stake in your local newspapers, as much as the workers who produce it every day. The Contra Costa Times is a living, breathy system, that doesn't work without you. To wit: Please exercise your power, your role in the CCT by making clear to management that you will not tolerate evisceration of your news. Demand they treat their employees humanely and decently by providing more information about their economic goals. Require transparency as we hold politicians to the same threshold. And support reporters’ efforts to unionize the newsroom, and protect themselves and their careers.

Thanks for reading.