After announcing it would lay off 18 employees earlier this month, The Commercial Appeal has laid off a group of long-time staffers including Jimmie Covington, the paper’s most senior reporter; copy editor Mark Watson, who was also president of The TriCouncil which represents union employees at the paper; Bill Day, editorial cartoonist; and reporters Jim Masilak, Frederick Koeppel and Christopher Blank. Industry sources also report another round of layoffs could come in June.
