'Black Wednesday' in Tampa

[dixiehack]

Hit the Mons Venus for a special ad every Thursday in Life?

Here's where someone could make a case for user generated content to turn the paper around.

[Mike Harris, not that one]

I'm sorry to hear if it is Scott, he is a solid reporter and a good friend. Will he land on his feet? I have no doubt.

I went through this mess last year and the day I was laid off (Somebody on this board said I was fired, um no.) I said to everyone I was glad it was me and not any of them. Now, I'm sorry to hear about Scott. I hope to give him a call tonight and let him know things will be OK.

I was Scott's team leader for a short time after my seven years in the position and I enjoyed his writing, reporting, news judgement and everything journalistically.

If Scott is reading this, don't look down but celebrate the freedom with a Partagas or an Arturo Fuente.

Is there any one of my former coworkers in Tampa I want seen laid off? Hell (blinking) no.  

[Moderator1]

I will repeat, I have no issue with anything Lyman posted and I didn't think for a second he was a douchebag (or is a douchebag or whatever).
He disagreed with the wording.  Pretty simple.  Well within his rights.

And other Mike, welcome.  Hope you are doing well.    For the confused, Mike was a manager at the Trib who used to get a lot of my e-mails.  I told him to forward the good ones and keep the shitty ones.    Along with Mike Harris at AP, we're quite the clique.

[Joe Williams]

Remember when the worst thing that could happen to a writer in this business was to get called in and told that you were being taken off a beat that you enjoyed? That it was going to be handled now by someone else and you were going to get some lame-ass role that made you question your career choice and college major?

Now you can be doing a swell job, but you still can get called in and told that, gee, sorry, you don't work here anymore. Them's the breaks, there's debt to be serviced, it's happening all over, what makes you think you're any different and, what the heck, better you than me.

Oh, for the good ol' days of an occasional mean-spirited or wrong-headed demotion.

Now you're more likely to suffer that if you don't take their hints and exit via "voluntary separation."

[Moderator1]

Sent it out where?

[Moderator1]

Staples and Carter are, I believe, brothers-in-law.  Wives are sisters.  Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

[thegrifter]

Here's what I know...

Tampa let go of three people in sports. One was a preps writer, one was Carter, I don't know the name of the other.

Carter was told that the reason he was let go was a geographical decision, since he lived in Tallahassee. The belief in Tampa is that the cheap SOBs at the Tribune didn't want to pay to move him back.

Staples, who did an outstanding job covering UF for the Tribune, until he left for SI.com sent out an email to the Tribune Staff and a few other SEs shredding them for telling the staff that the job eliminations would be based on performance and then, the next day, telling someone something else after letting them go.

Whether you agree with Staples doing this or not, I think it shows great character to stick up for a former co-worker like that.

way to go!

[Ira_Schoffel]

Just seeing this thread and want to throw up. Scott's a great guy and has done a very good job on the FSU beat. Not to mention that his wife gave birth to their first child this past year ... great timing. This whole thing is just disgusting.

And Moddy, you have the relationship between Scott and Staples correct.

[playthrough]

I didn't know Carter lived in Tallahassee. That makes it all the more puzzling to me why they'd let him go, don't you want your 'Noles writer there and not commuting from Tampa and turning in those expenses? Or am I missing something (besides management having their heads up their ass, of course)?

[Andy _ Kent]

As soon as I saw the "Black Wednesday" title of this thread earlier today I had an uneasy feeling, even though the last time I had spoken with my good friend Scott Carter shortly after the first round of cuts at the Trib he felt pretty secure.

Still, when Moddy typed out his name among the casualties, it felt like someone blindsided me with a very large frying pan.

I've been lurking around this board keeping silent for over a year and absorbing each and every thread announcing more and more layoffs at different papers with almost the same sense of dread as I once read sad story after sad story about the Hurricane Katrina victims of the 9/11 victims because the bad news just keeps coming at you from all sides.

Now in no way am I trying to equate those tragedies with what we are experiencing in our industry, but when you are as close to the carnage as we are, it hurts pretty bad. I knew sooner or later I would come across a name that hit really close to home, and this one did because I have known Scott for almost 15 years. I also have no doubt he is more than talented enough to land on his feet, but it doesn't diminish the fact that the timing of this sucks and the way it was handled was shittier than the way the Mets handled the firing of Willie Randolph.

I don't know how some of these bastards (aka bean counters and upper management) can look at themselves in the mirror.

And with that, I'll end my rant. I'm just glad I was able to leave newspapers on my own terms and have been able to thrive as my own boss while still being able to what I love.

[SockPuppet]

I don't know Scott Carter but it's pretty obvious what happened to him is usually preceded by dinner and a movie.
I don't want to agree with MizzouGrad, but I will take Lyman Bostock to task on his comment about Scott Carter landing on his feet (which I hope he will).
If you want to stay in the newspaper business, how in the hell can you land on your feet? The last three weeks there have been nearly 3,000 layoffs in the industry because jobs/positions have been eliminated. It's a damn shame when talented people are getting dismissed and have limited to zero options.

[Joe Williams]

Likes it's his fault he was based in Tallahassee? That's like the Milwaukee paper dumping its Packers writer because he lives in Green Bay.

[Andy _ Kent]

Likes it's his fault he was based in Tallahassee? That's like the Milwaukee paper dumping its Packers writer because he lives in Green Bay.

What makes this even more ridiculous is the fact that it was the Trib that prodded him to take the FSU beat and asked him to move to Tallahassee! So if indeed that was part of the thinking process here, to avoid having to pay for him to move back to Tampa, then somebody needs to be taken out to the back parking lot for a serious discussion.

[andrew carter]

Found out about this this afternoon and have been utterly depressed since. Not sure what to say. Scott was my first friend in Tallahassee. My only friend, at times. He's a competitor on the beat, sure, but more important a genuine person who cares about this craft, and who cares about his fellow man. We all know what that means these days in this business.

Had promised myself I wouldn't get melodramatic -- probably too late -- but I'm just stunned. I fully expected to see Scott out at practice in a bit more than a month, a cigar hanging from his lips, ready to ask the old man about his program. Heck -- we were just talking the other day about going to ACC media days. And now this.

The Tribune just lost itself a great reporter. And FSU fans just lost some great insight into their program. But I know Scott will be OK, because he's too good not to be. Once again, it's the newspaper's loss.

[Lee Jackson Beauregard]

Who's the preps writer who got axed? Or if that's a touchy matter, what age group does this person fall into?

[Grey]

Here's what I know...

Tampa let go of three people in sports. One was a preps writer, one was Carter, I don't know the name of the other.

Carter was told that the reason he was let go was a geographical decision, since he lived in Tallahassee. The belief in Tampa is that the cheap SOBs at the Tribune didn't want to pay to move him back.

Staples, who did an outstanding job covering UF for the Tribune, until he left for SI.com sent out an email to the Tribune Staff and a few other SEs shredding them for telling the staff that the job eliminations would be based on performance and then, the next day, telling someone something else after letting them go.

Whether you agree with Staples doing this or not, I think it shows great character to stick up for a former co-worker like that.

I am proud to say Scott Carter is one of my best friends. Also that I brought him to the Trib during my five-year tenure in the late-1990s. I have been so proud of him, working his way from the Pasco Bureau to the Lightning (when he knew zip about hockey) to the Devil Rays to the Seminoles.

He loved his job of backing the Lightning and working the (Devil) Rays. As Staples mentioned in his e-mail, Carter took the FSU job to be the good soldier, to make room for some of the "dead weight", Staples addressed. Any of us who worked there in the last decade or so know exactly who Staples is referring to, yet they still are employed.

I talked to Carter last night. I've been laid off before and he was where I expected: perplexed, angry, worried, perplexed some more and then a bit of rage.

As others stated, he'll be fine. Will it be in this business? Like all of us, he has a lot of thinking to do.

As another mentioned, he has a 1-year-old daughter and a recently purchased home with a wife who also relocated her employment, obviously, from Tampa to Tallahassee. Carter was given no chance to relocate to Tampa.

Oh, and he learned by phone. Classy.

I would not want to be in Duke's wingtips today when Carter goes in to turn in his equipment.

This is just crap.

Scott Carter was the consummate pro. Hard-working, always thinking. Knew how to glean and keep contacts. Went from vanilla to Kahlua with his writing, which he really, really cared so deeply about.

On the personal side, one cannot find a better friend. Heck, a better person. Straight-up man's man and good liver.

Bob Bellone, like Carter, approaching his 10th year with Media General, was the third sports casualty ... thus far. No management folks took hits, of course.

[Grey]

Who's the preps writer who got axed? Or if that's a touchy matter, what age group does this person fall into?

Young, I think... I'm pretty sure it was a female from one of the bureaus. I don't think she'd been there very long.

It was a female. Reportedly, that one was not a surprise.

Carter's was an absolute shock.

BTW, Staples' job in Gainesville won't be filled (as I'm sure most everyone has figured out by now) nor will Carter's spot in Tallahassee. Miami was dropped about a decade ago.

[Moderator1]

Here is Andy's letter:

To my old friends at The Tampa Tribune,
 
I hate to be writing this e-mail, but today's events have left me dumbfounded. I take back any kind word I have ever spoken about The Tampa Tribune or its management. Never again will I lift a finger to help the Tribune, unless it is to help current staffers find other employment. I also will tell any talented, job-seeking journalist I meet to steer clear of the Tribune.
 
Those who conspired to lay off Scott Carter obviously don't work in the sports department. Scott was the one person who would accept any assignment and fulfill it with gusto -- even when he was picking up the slack for far less motivated and far less talented reporters. You held a meeting yesterday and told staffers the layoffs would be performance-based. Scott has never received a bad evaluation, and he was told his layoff was geography-based. Why was he in Tallahassee in the first place? Oh, I remember now. To help the Tribune. 
 
With decisions such as this one coming from the mountaintop, we need not wonder why the newspaper industry is tanking. Strictly from a business perspective, how is it in the best interests of a company to lay off one of its most creative, productive employees while still cutting checks to dead weight? Sure, the world changed, but this type of thinking did just as much to damn the industry as Craigslist or Web sites such as the one that now employs me.
 
To the wonderful people still left fighting the good fight on Parker Street, you're in my prayers. To the bungling idiots who laid off Scott Carter, I wash my hands of you and your newspaper.
 
Sincerely,
Andy Staples
Tampa Tribune veteran, 2002-08

[slappy4428]

wow...

[Grey]

Here is Andy's letter:

To my old friends at The Tampa Tribune,
 
I hate to be writing this e-mail, but today's events have left me dumbfounded. I take back any kind word I have ever spoken about The Tampa Tribune or its management. Never again will I lift a finger to help the Tribune, unless it is to help current staffers find other employment. I also will tell any talented, job-seeking journalist I meet to steer clear of the Tribune.
 
Those who conspired to lay off Scott Carter obviously don't work in the sports department. Scott was the one person who would accept any assignment and fulfill it with gusto -- even when he was picking up the slack for far less motivated and far less talented reporters. You held a meeting yesterday and told staffers the layoffs would be performance-based. Scott has never received a bad evaluation, and he was told his layoff was geography-based. Why was he in Tallahassee in the first place? Oh, I remember now. To help the Tribune. 
 
With decisions such as this one coming from the mountaintop, we need not wonder why the newspaper industry is tanking. Strictly from a business perspective, how is it in the best interests of a company to lay off one of its most creative, productive employees while still cutting checks to dead weight? Sure, the world changed, but this type of thinking did just as much to damn the industry as Craigslist or Web sites such as the one that now employs me.
 
To the wonderful people still left fighting the good fight on Parker Street, you're in my prayers. To the bungling idiots who laid off Scott Carter, I wash my hands of you and your newspaper.
 
Sincerely,
Andy Staples
Tampa Tribune veteran, 2002-08

I echo those sentiments and will let it be known to them.

Tampa Tribune veteran 1995-99

[Grey]

Again, my issue with what was said yesterday about "The good ones land on their feet."

That's not true anymore. There are a lot of great writers out there who have been shown the door the same way Carter was who wind up out of the business because they either don't want to uproot their families or because they don't want to take the job that would essentially require them to start over in this business.

Spot-on.

Where the frick is someone supposed to land so cat-like these days?

[Mizzougrad96]

For the most part, if you get news like this, you're done in this business...

[MU_was_not_so_hard]

I've met Andy a couple times, seemed like a cool cat.
That letter was just an absolute bitch slap. I hope similar letters are going out all around the country.

[Joe Williams]

Again, my issue with what was said yesterday about "The good ones land on their feet."

That's not true anymore. There are a lot of great writers out there who have been shown the door the same way Carter was who wind up out of the business because they either don't want to uproot their families or because they don't want to take the job that would essentially require them to start over in this business.

Spot-on.

Where the frick is someone supposed to land so cat-like these days?

Let's not forget those who are written off as too old "experienced" or not filling some hiring editor's checklist for diversity, a value that only truly kicks in at the job level immediately below the hiring editor and his/her career ambitions.

[slappy4428]

I've met Andy a couple times, seemed like a cool cat.
That letter was just an absolute bitch slap. I hope similar letters are going out all around the country.

Would be nice to see if he tried to submit it as a letter to the editor and dared them to print it.