Glenn Russell Credit: Courtesy of Glenn Russell

After 25 years as a staff photographer for the Burlington Free Press, Glenn Russell learned Tuesday morning that he no longer had a job.

The veteran photographer — and, more recently, videographer — took his first freelance assignment with the paper in 1986 and joined its staff in 1993. He was part of a dwindling photography staff that, in the 1980s, included five staff photographers and now appears to include just one: Ryan Mercer.

Russell, 56, confirmed the news to Seven Days but declined to provide further comment. According to Free Press executive editor Mike Kilian, Russell was the sole employee to lose his job Tuesday. Kilian also declined an interview request.

Russell’s layoff appears to be the first in the Free Press newsroom since October 2016, when the paper dismissed three journalists and one advertising employee.

There have been other transitions: Then-editor Denis Finley was fired in January after posting a series of controversial messages on Twitter. Longtime reporter and editor Adam Silverman departed in March for a job with the Vermont State Police; it appears he was not replaced. Last month, the paper shifted veteran opinion editor Aki Soga to the news staff and eliminated his old job. 

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Paul Heintz was part of the Seven Days news team from 2012 to 2020. He served as political editor and wrote the "Fair Game" political column before becoming a staff writer.

8 replies on “Media Note: Free Press Lays Off Veteran Photog Glenn Russell”

  3. Well, the liberal paper is getting rid of people and putting in LIBERALS. The Free Press was a newspaper you could trust, haven’t been able to trust them for yrs and I do mean yrs… Just like WCAX.. Free Press and WCAX are liberal and bias…. they get rid of the good employees …

  4. Cost cutting measures. Older staff get larger salaries. Newspapers everywhere are dying.

  5. Donna, liberal bias from a photographer? Thats new to me. Can you explain how that works please?

  6. xmasboyvt, if you can’t figure it out, Donna shouldn’t waste her time trying to explain it to you.

  7. Yes, it is what profit making companies of all kinds do to their older employees but that does not justify it one tiny bit toward the sustainable & community conscious society most of us are coming to crave. For what it means to the local and statewide community who are the wind beneath the wings of the Free Press, not to mention fine photographer and dedicated employee Glenn himself, I echo Kath M: it is a huge, huge loss.

  8. @xmasboyvt, Mmmm did I even mention that the photographer was bias..? Nope I didn’t. Glenn Russell is a good photographer and has been doing that for 25 yrs and gets can. Stop reading things that I didn’t write.. I said that the BFP and WCAX had become liberals.. Geee read right or get some glasses..

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