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Laid-off Gannett sports editor raps company in final column

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by gannettblog, Feb 4, 2011.

  1. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    Reading the column a second time, I'm starting to think that he wasn't being so self serving.

    Yeah, he was pointing out that he won awards and stuff like that. To me, it's explaining to the readers that he wasn't just some crappy employee who wasn't doing the job and deserved firing. He's illustrating that no matter how good a job he, or anyone else would do, corporate greed was going to get rid of him.

    And if anything, a well-written deconstruction of Gannett would have turned off readers, especially those who can't read more than the first five grafs or anything six inches long.
     
  2. As acknowledged, his emotions led him to make some parts more self-indulgent than others, but it still is speaking truth.

    He's not just whining. He's telling you -- hell, showing you -- how much he cared. How qualified he was. How much he was willing to sacrifice. And he's telling you the company didn't care about all that. You don't thinking a reader can recognize all that and wonder who will replace a person like that? Who will be in charge of their product?

    Most of the response indicates they have recognized all of that.

    There have been plenty of less emotional deconstructions of the ills of how corporations have ruined the newspaper product. Most people who read those often offer a "tsk, tsk" and a shrug of their shoulders. "That's a shame," they might say.

    This was stronger than that. More effective. It elicited a much more penetrating response. Because he didn't just tell you -- he showed you. He put a face on the issue. The one, in this case, he knew best. His own.

    He didn't limit it to that. He just led with it. Later, he wrote about the other folks at his paper. He wrote about corporate greed in general.

    The column definitely has flaws and could have been reined in. I don't disagree with that fact. But I also don't blame the guy who dedicated his time there -- through illness and everything else -- to not just worry about everyone else in some aspects. We're so programmed to do that, to never make it about ourselves, that it makes the wound that much deeper when we get cut.

    And, again, while there could have been things that were tempered, in some ways I'd say it makes the column better. It's real, flaws and all.
     
  3. Fredrick

    Fredrick Well-Known Member

    I'm glad my post is the one that started to turn the tide on here in favor of the column writer.
    No, I don't want a pat on the back.
    I'm just happy to read others agree with me that this guy isn't killing his career by pointing out how he got screwed over by his company.
    This is 2011, people.
    I say if you get screwed by your organization, then give them hell if you can publicly.

    I have seen people who do the "laying off" at 2 shops now and I can honestly say I think in some cruel, synister, utterly vicious way, they enjoy doing the work of upper management and laying people off. It's a very strange world we live in today.
     
  4. funky_mountain

    funky_mountain Active Member

    as far as i can tell, it's always been a strange world one way or another, for billions of years.
     
  5. SF_Express

    SF_Express Active Member

    There were a few moments I would have taken back or edited out, but overall, it didn't bother me. Amid the self-serving parts were the parts about how he tried the best he could to server his readers and give a shit about his job, and that's not enough in this environment.

    Overall, more pass than fail.
     
  6. Mark2010

    Mark2010 Active Member

    I understand the guy's anger, frustration, whatever. And I'm glad he had the balls to call it as he saw it and let the chips fall where they may. Too many people run their lives based out of fear and I'm glad he's an exception.
     
  7. sportsguydave

    sportsguydave Active Member

    Or maybe there are more than a few folks out there who feel like him but would never have the testicular fortitude to put it out there in print.
     
  8. Johnny Dangerously

    Johnny Dangerously Well-Known Member

    Boy, this really seems to have struck a nerve with you. Almost like ... it's personal.
     
  9. dkphxf

    dkphxf Member

    If a newspaper won't hire this person because of one column he's written, doesn't that say much about the people there? For what it's worth, I much rather have someone who's willing to speak his/her mind. I take that as evidence he/she won't be a lapdog to what he/she's covering.
     
  10. Stitch

    Stitch Active Member

    Bizarro world is nice to think about, but in the real world, if you say bad things about your bosses, it doesn't help you in the job hunt. Newspapers are worse than many other businesses because the suits are more sensitive to criticism than the shrillest politician.
     
  11. JimmyHoward33

    JimmyHoward33 Well-Known Member

    I'm glad he's going to land on his feet. I don't really have a problem with the concept of writing a column like this, as long as you know how risky it is going in. But I don't think it was particularly well written. I don't have a dozen awards from New Jersey either so.
     
  12. Mark2010

    Mark2010 Active Member

    Um, how large was this paper, anyway?
     
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