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Diane Pucin cut by LA Times

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by SnarkShark, Jan 10, 2014.

  1. da man

    da man Well-Known Member

    Something similar happened at one of my former shops (after I was gone).

    A longtime good soldier type was rewarded with a promotion. They gave him a title (though, as I understand the situation, not a pay increase) and made him part of management.

    A few weeks later, layoffs were announced, and the word was they would be done by seniority -- last in, first out. But it turned out that meant seniority within each particular group of employees. And because a certain number of middle managers were among those to be dismissed, this guy, who had been working at the paper for something like 15 years, was the "last in" among his group and was terminated.

    He'd have been far better off if they hadn't done him the "favor" of promoting him.
     
  2. AD

    AD Active Member

    drama queen? an easy shot to take, especially when you consider that every newsroom and press room -- and every page on this board, for that matter -- is full of 'em. writers, journalists, reporters, columnists -- male and female -- are neurotic, too sensitive and self-obsessed as a whole, and that's what makes them able to do this job. we work a subjective craft that rarely proves its own worth in a profit-driven world in the best of times, much less now. did diane go too far in describing her 9/11 'sacrifice'? maybe. but it's that kind of mind-set that enabled/drove her to write such a fine, well-reported, on-the-fly piece amid one of the most important days in the country's history. maybe that makes her 'difficult' for editors who would never be capable of doing such a job themselves. but i don't care how 'difficult' or 'dramatic' a writer is. all that matters is the work. and her work was consistently excellent.
     
  3. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    I am going to be a stickler here, but there are many flights, on many airlines, out of the New York area to Los Angeles on a Monday morning. She could have died. She also could have been on a different NY-LA flight that morning.
     
  4. BTExpress

    BTExpress Well-Known Member

    Well, she was already booked on an American flight with a set route, so the logical thing to do was simply change the day, which she did. At that airport, there were two AA flights to LA that day.

    Most people, when held up a day and about to take a flight that is already paid for, aren't going to rebook from square one. They are simply going to change what they already have paid for. In that sense, she had two choices.
     
  5. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    But based on her column, she chose the afternoon flight. The morning flight was presented as an option, but she didn't want to get up that early.

    It's a very sketchy connection in the first place and has nothing to do with her career status of 2014.
     
  6. Moderator1

    Moderator1 Moderator Staff Member

    Bruce Boudreau can say he almost died on one of those flights. He was booked on one of them. The Kings then changed plans and brought everybody out at a different time. He talks about it in his book.

    Not sure if this case compares. Was she booked on one of the flights and then changed it? If so, yeah, she has a point but I'm not sure the paper or anyone owes her anything 13 years later.
     
  7. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    I know of some union papers where they're promoted people to exempt positions for the sole purpose of firing them.
     
  8. MisterCreosote

    MisterCreosote Well-Known Member

    No. One of the 9/11 flights was an option for her - the option she did not take.
     
  9. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    I got the sense she was booked, but she changed it. I agree, coming that close to something like that can make an impact, but it doesn't mean anything 13 years later.

    It truly frightens me that she would actually say something like that. "A paper I almost died for, just let me go..."

    Or she could take a look in the mirror and say, "I'm a tennis and media writer and I have a very high salary. That makes the bullseye on my back huge."
     
  10. MisterCreosote

    MisterCreosote Well-Known Member

    She originally went to book the morning flight, but before the booking was completed, she switched to the afternoon flight, because she "wasn't a morning person," and after she was assured that the afternoon flight also had available upgrades.
     
  11. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    The sacrifices she made for the company, I'm telling you.
     
  12. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    No kidding... If they had made her fly home coach, then they shouldn't have been allowed to get rid of her for at least 20 years.
     
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