My publisher got fired on Monday

Fucking CNHI... A good guy who got caught in the profit-margin web.

As if those at my shop needed it, one more reason to pray for a sale to anyone other than JRC.

 

Our whole newspaper chain (Mid-South) essentially got fired on Friday... Mid-South sold its assets to Heartland Publications. People aren't part of the assets, so we are technically all terminated once the deal goes through (which could be at any time). Nothing like being hung out to dry...

 

Damn dude, I'm sorry to hear that. I hope things work out for you. Let me know if I can help with anything.

 

>>> My publisher got fired on Monday <<<

and how many people here would be a wearing a big 'ol grin if that happened at their place?

 

I used to work at a Mid-South rag when I first broke into the business. I can't imagine how I would have felt if I got the rug pulled out from under me like that. I guess I'm glad I got out when I did, but shit ... that's got to suck.

 

Same thing happened to me when my company was bought out by another. The new company hired every one of us except for one person as soon as they took over ownership. This is nothing more than legal manuevering. I doubt you or hardly anyone else loses their jobs.

 

Then again, if someone new took over as publisher, you still may end up having to polish off the ol' resume. Especially if you work at a truly independent newspaper.

 

Apparently today is D-day, when we find out our fate. We've heard "visitors" are coming at some point ... I can't imagine that they would let me go since I'm a one-man sports show for two different papers. Then again, I've heard rumors that they are going to clean house and shift our workload to one of the bigger papers in our chain...

My concern if they keep me is what they'll do to the sports section in our papers. We're already squeezed to the bone as far as space goes. How do you cover sports for an entire county (two high schools, plus any other happenings) for a weekly when your first page has a 6x10.5 ad at the bottom of it and your second page is about 75 percent ads? That was my set up this week, with my (maybe soon to be fired) publisher telling us that since this is the way its probably going to be with the new company, we might as well get used to it... yikes. I ran one story, two submitted photos and some briefs. Award winning for sure. Journalism lite....

Eventually there has to be a tipping point when readers say, "you know what there is not enough in here for me to want to pay to read this anymore" right? Or does content really not matter at all, as long as you have enough advertising coin coming in?

 

My publisher got fired a few weeks ago; it was the happiest day in our building since, well, since the day the son of a bitch arrived.

Of course, as we knew they would, they sent in somebody just as bad, who immediately set to work on his duties assigned by the Big Boys Upstairs: Throwing more journalists out of jobs.

 

Heartland, if it isn't already, is becoming the next CNHI. They bought one of my old shops -- I had been gone for three or four years -- and gutted the place. They moved printing offsite and canned 60 percent of the people in the building. They fired the editor of a weekly newspaper, who left the daily as a managing editor (No. 2 position) because she wanted to run her own newspaper, and told her if she wanted, she could apply for an entry-level job back at the daily, but she'd have to take a $15K paycut. The cut would have put her at $18K a year. Heartland = Heartless.

 

I hear you. We had a part timer, working only 20 hours a week and doing a good job, cut loose today. We're also CNHI. We're making a profit, but we're behind projection, so that's why she was let go. Our ME didn't even know about it until she didn't come in. The regional office called her at home this morning and told her not to come in. Nice. This sucks.

 

I know CNHI has a freeze going on. I didn't know things were THIS bad.