The nation's largest newspaper publisher is laying off another 700 employees to cope with an unrelenting advertising slump.
Gannett, the owner of USA Today and more than 80 other daily U.S. newspapers, hoped to complete the cuts Tuesday. The layoffs are occurring at most Gannett newspapers but not at USA Today.
Will the last person to leave the profession please turn out the lights?
Comments
A few years ago Gannett fired a friend of mine from their Huntington, WV, newspaper. The reason given? He had accessed a porn site from a company computer. That doesn't sound unreasonable except for this: The man was the Internet beat reporter - his job was to surf the net and report on what he found. OF COURSE he encountered a porn site. Has anyone ever surfed the net and NOT encountered a porn site?
The real reason was that my friend has chronic illnesses, including diabetes, and Gannett self-insures its employees. In other words, his poor health and advancing age were deemed too expensive, so they fired him on trumped-up charges.
The good news: He sued and won. He now works for another paper.
I was likewise fired on trumped up charges by the Morgantown, WV, paper. I sued. I signed an agreement that I would not reveal the outcome of the suit, and I intend to abide by that promise.
However, they also agreed not to give me a bad reference, and as this newspaper and every other Ogden paper knows, The Dominion Post has violated that promise.
It's sad that an industry in trouble is trying to save itself by tossing its better-paid employees overboard.
BTW, say hello to Mike Christman for me. We graduated from the same college. The difference is that I went there when it was hard to get admitted.
"However, they also agreed not to give me a bad reference, and as this newspaper and every other Ogden paper knows, The Dominion Post has violated that promise."
My guess is, your newspaper employment problems stem more from the fact your reputation probably precedes you rather than from them violating their promise to not give you a bad reference, because if they had, someone with your sense of entitlement certainly would have sued them again, right?
Stay classy, Zank.
Yes the layoffs here in fort myers were tough yesterday. but editors here recognize our bread and butter is local news so we keep that focus every day in print and on the Web.
Leo:
I don't think they're worrying about turning out the LIGHTS...but rather WHICH TYPE OF BULBS they're using FOR those lights.
Sure looks that way these days.