McClatchy moving Raleigh, Rock Hill production to Charlotte

FYI ...

http://apple.copydesk.org/2011/06/06/raleigh-n-c-news-observer-eliminating-copy-desk-design-desk/

 

Raleigh to Charlotte is not near as drastic as what is happening in some other chains.

 

Except that it means almost nobody on the copy desk in Raleigh will have a job. Unless you're single and live in an apartment. If you have a house or have a spouse, you are SOL.

So I think it's pretty damn drastic.

 

A little bit of a flip remark, don't you think?

First off, Raleigh isn't a small-town operation. Secondly, that's more people out of jobs. Third, that's more local knowledge lost ... unless some of those in the Triangle are moved at McClatchy's expense to Mecklenburg County to alleviate that issue. The same local knowledge that has been lost at Media General and Gannett papers. Only the suits couldn't care less because they'll simply make an editor or poor desker absorb the complaints so that they don't even hear a peep and assume that everything is just fine.

Charlotte has slid downhill significantly over the last few years. I saw a recent N&O and it is heading in the same not-so-positive direction. Want to rethink that "not near as drastic" thought? Want to be one of those directly affected ... do you want to tell any of them that it's no big deal?

 

I might be wrong about this, but I'm guessing he's referring to the operation staying in the region, rather than moving from Florida to Tennessee or Virginia to Florida, etc.

 

That was my point. We've seen other chains combine editing for papers up to 1,000 miles away.

As far as being directly affected .... I've moved plenty of times in my life and, honestly, going from Raleigh to Charlotte is not such a huge adjustment as going east coast to west coast, etc. The link I read stated that editors in Raleigh would have an opportunity to get new jobs at the Charlotte hub. I suppose that can be either a good thing or bad thing, varying from one person to another. (Hey, if my last chain had offered me a chance to move 200 miles to a bigger city and do the same job, I'd have jumped on that bandwagon so fast it would have made heads spin.)

I really think this is the wave of the future where print publications are concerned. More and more papers (and mags) are being owned/operated by the same company. My last job also printed a sister paper an hour south of us, because it made more sense to truck the copies down there than run two separate printing presses.

There are certainly kinks to be worked out and I'm not denying there will be growing pains associated with paginating multiple papers in one location. But it doesn't make any sense to whine about consolidation, because it seems that is necessary for survival.

 

Raleigh and Charlotte are two different places and not just because they're on two different places on the map. If McClatchy is willing to pay for the moves of deskers from Raleigh to Charlotte, that helps - some. Better for both employees and employers if those deskers stay a while as they can help bridge the local knowledge gap.

I would certainly take either city and not say a word. But others may disagree and have perfectly legitimate reasons for their stances. Your results may vary.

Maybe in relative terms, moving from Raleigh to Charlotte isn't as drastic as moving from the east coast to the west coast. But a move is a move and that's a pretty big deal.

 

One big problem some comments don't take into account: Who can sell a house these days?

 

Exactly, Frank. My wife used to work in Raleigh and I worked in Fayetteville. We moved three years ago (Thank God, considering this news today -- she was on the news copy desk) and we still own our house back there, but are currently renting it.

 

Whether it's 200 miles or 2,000 miles is irrelevant. You have to sell your house, in a market that is at best soft. You have to find your spouse -- who probably makes as good or better a salary -- a new job in a new market. In less than a month.

And for what? A job that might go away in the next round of layoffs? At a lower pay scale than you're at now? I don't know if you've priced moving companies lately, but you can't do a household for $5,000.

So don't talk about kinks or growing pains, because you obviously don't get it. This isn't whining. This is the reality. It's the realization that the deal is designed to turn people away, not retain them. I have talked to some of my friends in Raleigh. They can't afford to make the move.

 

Definitely with you there ... when we moved. We plugged thousands of dollars into updates and upgrades just to take $5,000 less than we paid for our house