KANSAS CITY (CBS St. Louis) —  The Kansas City Star reportedly told two reporters that they had to figure out which one of them was going to get laid off.

Jim Romenesko reported on his blog that management told reporters Karen Dillon and Dawn Bormann that they would have to decide their fate and that the managers would stay out of it.

“They brought in two reporters – Karen Dillon and Dawn Bormann – and told them that one of them had to go,” an unidentified staffer told KC Confidential. “And that they had to decide which one would stay and they had until next week to figure it out. Sort of like ‘The Hunger Games.’ That’s the scuttlebutt anyway.”

KC Confidential reports that Bormann, who has worked at the paper for the past 14 years, is gone from the Star. Dillon has been there for 20.

“What’s really awful about that choice is it pits two colleagues against each other with the expectation that they will determine who is the better fit,” a marketing executive told KC Confidential. “And it takes the responsibility away from the employers which is cruel and unprofessional.”

Publisher Mi-Ai Parrish has yet to comment on the report.