The 1-year-old Dallas News Guild strongly commits itself to increasing the hiring and retention of people of color. Our desire is to reflect the communities we cover.

Mike Merschel, a 25-year veteran of The Dallas Morning News, describes the anguish of a layoff and the worries about how to survive on a very small — even embarrassing — severance package.

The Dallas News Guild analyzes current severance packages for outgoing employees and finds a great discrepancy between news staffers and a top executive.