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More bloodletting in Durham

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by SportsGuyBCK, Jul 29, 2011.

  1. SportsGuyBCK

    SportsGuyBCK Active Member

    Hearing that Paxton is moving the copy editing/page design functions to Paducah ...
     
  2. MrWrite

    MrWrite Member

    No deskers now in Raleigh or Durham.
     
  3. ondeadline

    ondeadline Well-Known Member

    It is moving to Kentucky, but to Owensboro.
     
  4. podunk press

    podunk press Active Member

    Owensboro is only 10 hours west of Durham, according to Yahoo maps.

    Can someone explain how this saves money? Clearly, it does, because it keeps happening. But I'm not quite sure I understand.
     
  5. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    People don't want to move 10 hours away, so you save on their salaries. And you dump the remaining work on the hub. Use templates for everything, and make it all look the same. Forget quality. Just get the papers out.
     
  6. joe

    joe Active Member

    Just how much more work can they dump on Owensboro? My god, the M-I used to be a great, great paper — even with Bob Ashley as the ME. Great reporting, great photographers, some great editors (I was in the "good" category). I used to wait for it to hit my stoop every morning, then read it for an hour or more. But then it got sold to Belo, which, after promising not to sell, promptly sold it to the soulless Paxton assholes. Fuck me. The few friends I have left at the paper must be shitting themselves about Paxton's latest work dump.

    Joe
     
  7. Hank_Scorpio

    Hank_Scorpio Active Member

    I once worked for a paper when it was being sold. The main competitors were CNHI and Paxton. When Paxton won out, we all said, "Oh this is a good thing. They are better than CNHI."

    Not sure that's the case anymore.


    I've also told this story once or twice before: Paxton had bought a new G4 laptop for photogs to send photos from faraway events. But it basically sat unused in the photo room because management didn't want to spend the $20/month (or whatever it was) for Internet, because there would be some months it wouldn't be used at all.

    This was also before most places having free Wifi.
     
  8. ondeadline

    ondeadline Well-Known Member

    Here's the story on it. Paxton chopped 1/3 of the staff and is now fewer than 20 people. About 10 years ago, the sports staff alone had 12 full-time people and a few other part-timers.
    http://www.indyweek.com/triangulator/archives/2011/08/02/the-herald-sun-cuts-a-third-of-its-newsroom#readerComments
     
  9. Versatile

    Versatile Active Member

    The NC State Technician and Duke Chronicle are now more adequately staffed than the big boy papers in their towns.
     
  10. Tarheel316

    Tarheel316 Well-Known Member

    This doesn't surprise me at all because it's Paxton. Ever since that infamous day when they took over in Durham, it has gone from bad to worse.
     
  11. maumann

    maumann Well-Known Member

    So now who's there to take the agate from the Eno Seniors golf guy?

    Or figures out the latest church Dartball League standings?

    Or talks to the Southern Durham girls tennis coach who had such a thick Carolina drawl that it took me several weeks to figure out Jinfurpahm was actually spelled "Jennifer Parham?"

    Or gets the phone call from columnist Frank Dascenzo on deadline: "This is Frank. Who the hell are you? Transfer me to somebody who knows who the hell I am!"

    And what will happen to the Herald-Sun Classic when there isn't a Herald-Sun?

    Yeah, that was a pretty fun place to work in 1991. Like a family. OK, a very dysfunctional family, but still ...
     
  12. ondeadline

    ondeadline Well-Known Member

    The current sports staff amounts to 3 people: the sports editor, a writer whose main job has been to be the Duke beat writer (though I imagine he'll be covering plenty more), and a writer who until last week was a news desker. That's it. The UNC beat writer is leaving on her on. Obviously they'll be hiring more writers, but it will be interesting to see how many.
     
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