Beginning of end for Miami Herald

I sense a trend beginning.

On the heels of Booth Newspapers consolidating the editing and design of the chain's eight Michigan newspapers to a central source out of the Grand Rapids Press, Miami Herald employees found out yesterday that McClatchy is planning on a similar route.

McClatchy's location is rumored to be in Kansas City.

Again, I sense a trend.

 

It's been a long time coming. McC already started running a lot of their customer service gigs through "streamlined" offices. And from what I'm hearing, there are rumors that the creative ad people are close to going the same route, if they haven't started already.

 

Another kick in the groin for this business. Thanks Mac.

 

I suppose you could argue that the "beginning of the end" was when Jack Knight died. Or when Jim Batten stepped down as CEO (and died soon after). Or when KR moved corporate HQ to San Jose. Lots of "beginnings of the end."

This rumor is troubling for reasons besides the obvious. The editing operation was at the heart of what that paper did for several reasons (I'm sure other people can come up with even more):

1.) The desk's workload in relation to the staffing level resulted in a unique team spirit. It didn't take long for new deskers to buckle under the weight of it, and there was a fast realization that everyone had your back if you'd ask for help. And eventually you would. There was less pettiness and office politics and more teamwork than I've seen anywhere else.

2.) The emphasis on tight editing was a product of an extremely tight newshole, and the recognition that this labor expense resulted in other savings. Every inch counted, saving not only newsprint but readers' time. Even wire copy had some punch to it because any fat had been excised.

3.) The editing operation had a good grasp of the unique sense of place. Turnover was extremely high, but it didn't take people long to "get" the unique culture of the newsroom and of South Florida. It was not a generic newspaper. The readers often witnessed bizarre events in their daily lives, and the newspaper reflected that. It's hard to imagine a desk located anywhere but Miami completely grasping the absurdities of daily life in Dade County. That's no knock on the people in Kansas City -- I doubt a remote editing operation located in New York, Chicago or even Orlando would quite get it, either.

 

I told a board member a week and a half ago that unedited blogs had been the first step down this slippery slope.

Jeebus Criminy

 

Excellent points Fank but the move from Miami to San Jose is at the top of my personal list. They knew it was a bad move and still went through with it.

 

I never thought The Herald would be the South Florida paper that would be in the most trouble.

 

Because that person was me, I'll note that I think you're talking apples and oranges, but knowing your feelings on this matter, I'm sure that you won't buy that.

Beyond that, as another alumni of the Herald sports copy desk -- the best, and also the toughest, I have ever worked on -- this is really crappy news in a couple of years full of that.

 

Incomprehensibly stupid.

 

Everyone thought it would be the Sun Sentinel. Call it Herald arrogance.