Gannett to close Nashville design studio

I give him credit for properly capitalizing USA TODAY even after it clubbed him in the knees. Maybe that's terms of the severance -- proper capitalization and syntax.

If I had been laid off from The Record, I would have said the heck with the formal name and called it the Bergen Record, which in the old days would have gotten you an email from Mac Borg.

 

A million demerits to Gannett, but a million credits to this guy for the Valery Giscard d'Estaing gif.

 

The Guild's power in holding off the carnage has been next to nil. Which can't be considered surprising.

 

I don't think the digital thing is even working for newspapers, otherwise you'd think even just the name of a paper and it's digital footprint would be worth something - unless the outlook isn't great on that end either.

 

Jesus. I did online alma mater coverage for USA Today when I was in college, in the mid-90s. It flopped (b/c we had to send files via FTP and nobody--I mean NOBODY--could figure out how to send or receive them) and eventually returned. So too will this. The lure of free labor will win out.

 

Anyone with info...how has the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel been doing so well to hold on to employees and keep the newsroom largely intact? Obviously McGinn and Gardner were asked to take buyouts or just left like McGinn said. The union I am guessing must be having an impact. There hasn't been much in terms of layoffs or anything down there or at least not reported.

 

The sons of fucking bitches struck again. Bob Klapisch, with 30-plus years of covering baseball in the NYC area, was laid off today, per his Tweet. Sure. Who wants to read the newspaper anyway?

 

Infuriating but expected. Newspapers just don't get it (duh). The way to survive is not to get rid of good people. Oh wait, they think that's the only way to survive. OK, I assume this guy is fairly highly paid. Let's say 150,000 dollars. They axe him and hire a 23 year old for 30,000. The problem? The paper has traded in legitimate excellence for crap. See you all in the unemployment line. Decisions like this are obvious to the suits but just lead to the end of newspapers.

Are there any suits on this site? Can you tell me how you justtify this move if you are the Bergen paper? You get rid of one of the top writers in the country (who probably hasn't had a raise in 5 years and has been "donating" hours of free work to the paper). For what? To hire some kid who can't write and will have no knowledge, no sources. Basically the paper is saying: "We know. We DON'T CARE about quality. Don't you get it? We ONLY care about keeping the suits in their offices for as long as we can." How can anybody justify this move or any of the other idiotic firings of "name" reporters?? Try to explain it to me. Find me a suit, any suit that has any self respect to answer my questions!!!!

 

I am not a suit but I think I can guess what happened to Klapisch. I would assume that Klapisch is on some sort of baseball beat. Gannett just bought Bergen and added it to their cluster of newspapers in the suburban New York/New Jersey area. A merger is rarely a combination of equals. One paper conquers another. The Gannett cluster conquered Bergen. The staff of the conquered paper will be treated as stepchildren. I bet Gannett is moving to a combined sports staff for their cluster (probably surreptitiously) and they already had reporters on the Mets and Yankees. Given Klapisch's experience at the New York Post he probably makes more than the Gannett guys so he is an expensive stepchild which made the decision much easier.

And if I were in Palm Beach I would be sending resumes out furiously because I think that paper will be purchased by a neighboring paper and become essentially a zoned edition. The Palm Beach staff will assume stepchild status and be gutted.

 

Dude.

You keep taking it. You're still in their employ. They pay your way, and I'm pretty sure you don't get in their face about it.

People are still working in coal mines (somewhere). A lot more are working on garbage trucks. Ride it out and get into something else when they connect your name with your rants. (It goes without saying, do whatever is necessary to prevent your next employer from connecting your name with your rants, too.)

 

Yes, Klapisch made a lot of money -- possibly twice as much as now-departed general columnist Tara Sullivan -- and didn't truly embrace digital. (That may be why he's not being considered for the open columnist position... or maybe he is, at a discount?) Regardless, to be laid off the morning after writing a World Series column for the Gannett universe... ouch. Especially since the decision was supposedly made as part of the last round of layoffs a few weeks ago.

As for the Gannett clusterf---, Bergen seems to be taking over New Jersey and squabbling with the Asbury Park Press for power there. Westchester, which dominated when Gannett bought the rest of New Jersey back in '97 or '98, seems to be rolling over this time. I believe most of the pro beats are already based Bergen (except the Red Bulls, Rangers and Nets, which might not exist anymore?) and are farmed out to the rest of the country.