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Next Up - Cedar Rapids

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Moderator1, Feb 24, 2009.

  1. beardown

    beardown Member

    Four copy editors from the universal desk were let go, including one who was dedicated to sports.

    The conductor was more like a mad scientist. He sat in his office and dreamed up big, crazy ideas. Only he left the implementation up to the staff to figure out. Never once did he meet with the sports staff to discuss the superblogging concept. So the staff was left to figure out everything with no leadership. That's why the conductor's train has stopped at consultation row, the only spot you can put someone you don't want but has a contract.

    The layoffs were going to happen anyway, but he handled them in the most impersonal way possible. It's almost like coming to The Gazette was a game to the conductor.
     
  2. chazp

    chazp Active Member

    This is depressing, it happens just about every day. It seems we might one day have a thread about there only being about 500 papers left in the country with less than 2,000 sports writing jobs to go around.
     
  3. JBHawkEye

    JBHawkEye Well-Known Member

    He'll get a consultant's job once he's out the door. And God help the next newspaper he lands at.
     
  4. Cape_Fear

    Cape_Fear Active Member

    I shudder to think that it might be at our place since our ME brought him in a few years ago to run a workshop.
     
  5. zeke12

    zeke12 Guest

    Keep that resume polished, Cape.
     
  6. JBHawkEye

    JBHawkEye Well-Known Member

    He will tour the newspaper world as a "consultant." Heartless hatchet man is a better title.
     
  7. JBHawkEye

    JBHawkEye Well-Known Member

    Gazette Co. CEO Chuck Peters tries to explain what his company is doing a year after Information Content Conductor Steve Buttry arrived.

    http://chuckpeters.iowa.com/2009/05/a-year-of-learning-what-are-we-doing/

    Some things of note about the comments below the blog post:
    1. A couple of friends of mine have posted critical comments that haven't made it through the moderation process. Hmmmmmm.
    2. A couple of people from other newspapers have weighed in curious about the Gazette's comments. Be very afraid if you work at one of those papers.
     
  8. SockPuppet

    SockPuppet Active Member

    I always have thought that Midwesterners/Iowans displayed good sense most of the time. The fucking idiots who came up with this business plan must be from some out-of-state asylum.
     
  9. JBHawkEye

    JBHawkEye Well-Known Member

    I dug up this thread to add some new news. Steve Buttry, who helped orchestrate this disaster at the Cedar Rapids Gazette, has parlayed his engineering of this train wreck into a new job.

    http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004063600

    He leaves behind a good, but gutted, staff that will have to clean up his mess.
     
  10. OnTheRiver

    OnTheRiver Active Member

    Talked to a friend who works there, who described the reorganization thusly:

    "It was designed to tear down silos. It has instead built bigger new ones."

    So pat yourself on the back, Buttry. Tremendous fucking work you did there.
     
  11. imjustagirl

    imjustagirl Active Member

    I have heard nary a good thing about Buttry.
     
  12. Fredrick

    Fredrick Well-Known Member

    This is what publishers never understood. That these handful of experts come in, make their 200,000 salaries, gut the place, talk their gobblygook, then move on. Meanwhile, the newspaper is cut to shreds space wise, no talent is left and the parting words of the expert? Hit twitter and facebook hard and continue to give away your product for free on the internet. Easy to see why newspapers are dead.

    Another funny thing about the experts is they get away with saying, 'we don't know what the future holds, but we're all in this together as we find out.' Really? As you make 200,000 a year and I get furloughed. Fuck you.
     
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