If it bleeds, it leads!

I agree with you that it is sort of like a great white shark attack (plenty of pub for its relatively rare occurrence), but the climate has never been so ripe.

 

Could it happen anywhere? Sure. Is it more likely to happen in certain jobs/businesses than other? You better damn well believe it.

When you factor in the inherent stress in newspaper jobs, combined with the passion many folks in this business have for what they do (and in turn, the passion they have about being denied the necessary resources to do it well) I think newspapers could have a slightly higher chance of something awful like this happening than many other lines of work.

 

Based on plummeting stocks, I'm sure the shareholders would love to kill us for tarnishing their portfolios. Surely, it has nothing to do with the slash-and-burn techniques used for staffing.

 

Ten bucks says it's a Gannett shop. And I'm not normally a betting man.

 

A columnist at one of my previous stops was an ex-Marine who used a disarmed (I hope) hand grenade as a paperweight and said he had an AK-47 at home. He was disappointed that he didn't get to fight in Vietnam, and his eyes lit up at the thought of it. He once told me he got the best grade in his class in Silent Kill. Good guy, really, but he scared the shit out of me. I've been thinking for years that one day I'll turn on the TV and hear he walked into the newsroom with his AK and started firing.

 

I'm an ex-Marine. Is that really what you think of people who have served this country?

 

Strangely, I've been thinking about this on my own the last few weeks. I certainly would never do something like it, but someone else who had done to them what was done to me might. And it's being done to people in this industry daily now.

Journalists are a prideful bunch. And they're having their pride stomped on daily by cold and incompetent management. Someone is going to snap some day. And once the first one does, just like in the post office, there will be a rash of such incidents.

 

this is a ridiculous thread

 

Point of clarification: There is no such thing as an ex-Marine.

 

I believe there was a paper in New Hampshire in the 90s that had a disgruntled worker kill a couple of people, including the editor.

 

It would be a real shame if it happened. It's happened in other institutions like post offices and chain stores. Nothing is really keeping if from happening in our field. They were disgruntled over low pay and horrible management. Suppose it did happen, wouldn't THAT be a horrible story to write.

 

My guess would be the Courier-Post, based on the thread here.