Morris Communications sells its newspapers to Gatehouse

What does this mean in the big picture? Did Morris get out because he felt newspapers at some point may be worth pennies and he better get what he can for them now? I had thought Morris only a year ago was committed to exciting new ventures at his papers.

 

I guess a fairer point is that he won't be running the paper ... just the editorial content in Augusta, Athens and Savannah.
Love to see the reaction by Billy Morris when Gatehouse hands him a company credit card with a $1,000 limit and tells him eat at Chili's when he goes out of town ... and, by the way, don't go out of town.

 

I was just thinking that one paper in Augusta might escape severe layoffs for a year or so until Billy gets tired of writing editorials and learns he can live without working at a newspaper. Surely Gatehouse won't want to do a bloodletting with Billy in the building will they?
I was just thinking that one of the scummiest jobs in America (though high paying I'm sure) is being a sleazebag mouthpiece for Gatehouse corporate or Gannett corporate, the folks in charge of laying off people when papers are acquired. I mean, have you ever heard of a sleazier job? Description: Go to a newspaper building for 2 weeks, interview a bunch of scared people who are living paycheck to paycheck, then deciding which of these people to whack? It's got to be surreal. Each experience has to be similar. Go into the building, hold a general meeting where you lay down the law. They either have to all reapply for their positions or just go to a meeting where they are asked what they do and hear the words, "thank you we'll let you know in a couple weeks if you have a position in our company." Then think of the sleazy joy they feel when they tell people they no longer have a job but they will be able to attend a resume building meeting next week to learn how to update a resume. How pompous these higherups are in playing gawd with people's lives as the CEO says, "where's my bonus? See u in two weeks; i'm going to Scotland on a golf trip."

 

Gatehouse bought the Columbus Ohio paper which I think is bigger than Jacksonville so I think Gatehouse is buying bigger papers as they expand.

 

Sadly, those folks often are rewarded handsomely for what they do. My shop was a case in point. Not long after work was outsourced and more than a dozen people were laid off, the mastermind of the scheme received a promotion and a raise.

 

You will become very familiar with the words, "hiring freeze" and "synergies"

 

Gatehouse bought the Columbia Daily Tribune and slashed the fuck out of all departments, so, you know, good luck -- and update your resume.

 

Funny thing about Morris was it had all those southeastern papers ... and the Juneau Empire, in Alaska, which IMHO was the red-headed stepchild of the company. And that's saying something.

Morris also owned Alaska Magazine, which went from a pretty good read about life all around our 49th state to a virtual tourist brochure.

 

Pretty soon every Florida daily north of Orlando and east of Tallahassee will look alike.

 

tell us more. Tell us about Gatehouse and what's ahead for the Morris papers.

 

Tell us about Columbia and the past sports section and current sports section. Very curious as to how evil Gatehouse is.

 

They're investment bankers who purchase newspapers and slam the outlet into a preconfigured format.

Nearly every recent Gatehouse purchase has had it's page design sent to Austin, TX regardless of where the paper is located. That means the majority of layout people, ad design, etc. get laid off.

Buyouts are common, especially deals tailored to those who have been around a while. Departments have travel budgets and other expenses slashed. Departments are often forced to reduce staff size to predetermined numbers. Got a big entertainment scene? Too bad, you won't get any extra staffers.

All the web sites look the same. They all use the same stupid metered pay wall that's easy to get around.

It's cookie cutter journalism funded by people who don't care about journalism, regional identity or a connection to the community.