Veteran Cincinnati Enquirer photojournalist and longtime ONPA member Michael E. Keating is taking a buyout from the newspaper.
The paper’s parent company Gannett made an offer to 800 eligible employees and will reportedly grant requests to 665 employees all of which are 56 years old with at least 20 years’ service.
Keating’s work has been a model of consistency over the years, routinely winning awards and generating excellent stories. The ONPA POY title has escaped him, but Keating is no “one hit wonder”. His work has placed in the POY competition seven times over the years.
He may be taking a buyout, but there is no fall-off in the work he is generating today. His story about his longtime neighbor Clyde Day who was 104 years old was recently featured on the New York Times Lens blog in a post by James Estrin.
It would be no surprise to see his portfolio once again be recognized by the judges this year.
I know not Keating’s plans for life after the Enquirer, but if the past is any indication, whatever he does, he’ll do well.