More cuts at DMN

Vers, lump-sum payouts and such don't cost a company nearly as much as keeping somebody on. You get them off the books permanently, and save all of the other costs, like health care and whatever other "perks" (hardly seems the word anymore, particularly for a company like Tribune) they might have been getting that cost money. I get what you're saying in Heisler's case, but two months is two months.

 

I don't know the specifics of the Heisler situation but in my experience the retirement plans of the employee let go are only revealed to the employer after the ax has fallen. So employers dump older, higher priced employees because they get tired of waiiting.

 

Anyone in newspapers who has reached full retirement age and is eligible for Medicare ought to be looking over his/her shoulder big-time. No employer in a failing industry should be afraid to nudge such folks out the door. There are many cheaper alternatives and it's almost unfair of the oldsters to hang around when someone without the senior options could make a living and provide for a young family.

I know the above might read like sarcasm, but the one place where I'm sympathetic to lousy newspaper management is the need to produce the product with fewer people, making less money. Just a fact of business-survival life.

There are so few jobs that bosses and staffers ought to clear out when they hit retirement age. How long they gotta suck at the teat?

 

Wait - isn't the economy in Texas kicking ass?

I just wish the industry which prides itself on being honest and truthful on a daily basis would acknowledge that they are on borrowed time. When you are a consumer it is difficult to pay the same or more for a product that isn't as good as it used to be.
I almost think the industry would have been wise to launch "alt-" titles in the last decade. People wouldn't expect much from a new title - you could tinker around with the format..try and build a sustainable model..a title like the Dallas Morning News has some heritage, a lot of newspapers now are like the Willie Mays years with the Mets.

 

I've been weighing whether to check in here, but what the heck.

I'm one of the editors who was laid off last week. It was my second time -- I was also let go by the DMN in 2009 but was rehired five months later.

This time, I'm not coming back. Two days after the layoff, I got a call from an outlet for which I'd been freelancing for the past five years or so. It seems the editor was leaving and he wanted to know I wanted to interview for his job. He had no idea I had just been laid off. I told him his timing was impeccable. I interviewed the next day and got an offer on the spot. I start this week as the new editor of a trade magazine for used car dealers (and other various duties in the organization). It's my first actual 9-to-5 job.

It won't be a complete divorce from sports -- I'll be doing as much freelance work as I can scrape up. But it's a big separation.

I've been in the newspaper business a very long time and I'm old enough to have put together a really clear idea of where I wanted my life to go. This represents a sharp curve in that road, heading in a completely different direction. I have no idea what I'll find there, or if I'll like it, but I'm on my way.

I'm not sure why I'm posting this. I'm on here a lot as a lurker and I frequently post under another identity, so I kind of feel like part of the group (though surely not one of the cool kids). Just felt like sharing a story. I'm hoping it winds up being a success story.

 

The economy will eventually come back. I don't know if it will take one, two, 10 or 20 years, but it will eventually come back.

Newspapers aren't coming back. We're never going to see the hiring surge that we saw at the end of the 1990s ever again.

Sadly, I think we're still a ways from rock bottom as well.

 

Andy, that is great news. Congrats.

 

It is always great to hear when someone finds something quickly.

 

Congratulations, Andy, both on the quick employment opportunity and on elevating the company you keep. Most polls rank used-car dealers higher in trustworthiness and likability than newspaper folks. Probably dress better too.

 

Great to hear, Andy ... good luck with the very timely new gig. As for being one of the cool kids, this is something that can only come from deep inside yourself.

 

Glad to hear you had some good luck. At least you can claim the DMN got you twice.

We know each other. PM if you like and we'll commiserate.