Jill Abramson’s First Task: Stop the Times Defections

Interesting that with all of the layoffs in the industry, the Times biggest problem is retaining their top journalists.

 

only way to possibly win the battle with defections is to SHOW EMPLOYEES THE MONEY, which goes against everything every paper in the country has been doing, well, forever. the times is learning they're as vulnerable as everyone else now that there are new forms of media with deep pockets willing to shell it out.

nothing else she can do. what, she's gonna give everyone on the staff a hug and make em feel warm and fuzzy and appreciated by telling 'em how invaluable they are? uh-uh. saying retaining the staff is priority one is just political lip service.

until we hear that a bunch of prominent and/or younger phenoms on the rise are being treated to significant bumps in salary, the new queen of the times is full of spit.

 

Dear Jill,
Welcome to the problem of every other media company for the last 150 years.
fishwrapper

 

One would think that an ambitious editor of the Times would welcome the opportunity to locate and promote or hire talented young reporters who would be the stars of the paper's next decade or so. I mean, if someone wants to leave a daily for a gig at the New Yorker, there's no way you can keep them -- they're looking to do something different than what you do.
The belief that "stars" sell newspapers, or even make newspapers notably better, is an ancient fallacy.

 

The NY Times ought to worry more about scrubbing its liberal bias than about corralling "stars." Used to think the NYT, WaPo and WSJ would forever endure, but the nonsense coming out of Times managers' mouths and offices makes me wonder.

 

Deep pockets AND actual growth potential. For Times-level talent, it's a seller's market.

 

This may not be the case. I don't think the HuffPost or Bloomberg could be paying much more than The Times. Especially the management hires.

 

AJR had an interesting look at Bloomberg a few months back. It helps when you charge enormous subscription fees.

http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=5023