Post-Gazette. Next in line.

I've been told by a person who works in Pittsburgh that everyone in the newsroom got an e-mail at about 5pm Friday that, in sum, said: We want some buyouts. If we don't get them, there will be layoffs.

 

Ah hah! More of those marvelous voluntary buyouts, eh? You vill sign ze papers. You vill take zis check. And you vill exit ze building. Schnell!

 

Ve haff vays of making you talk.

 

I also heard from a friend who works there that the buyouts usually suck, so no one takes them, leaving the newbies out to dry. She also said that means the P-G will be laying off all of their two-year associates and young reporters, leaving the old, mangy ones behind to mind the fort.

 

Yeah, ought to save the young mangy ones by putting the old mangy ones out of their jobs.

This obsession with youth is ridiculous. Young journalists are nothing but work-in-progress old journalists, and they're going to be around a lot longer, walking the earth, using up precious resources and taking up space, than the oldsters, who soon will die.

 

Gotta agree with Joe on that one.

 

I would argue, though, that the mangy ones are less likely to change. Therefore, why not try to mold younger ones into better journalists than just suck it up and suffer with the old ones who will never change?

AND you can pay them less.

 

since younger ones don't have anywhere near the connections needed in an old-school, blue-collar town such as pittsburgh.

some of those trib-review staffers do have the source relationships...does the p-g want to get its ass handed to it repeatedly for two years while kids try to make inroads with officials, etc? nothing wrong with keeping vets on board.

 

All I'm saying is that some of the fringe staffers that are still at these places can be replaced by younger, harder working, more malleable people. No one would suggest that pulling the pro team beat writers would be a good idea, especially when they repeatedly kick the Trib's ass on everything, but when it comes to other areas, it might help make the product better than it was with the older guys.

I'm not trying to start some kind of age clash. I'm just saying there is SOME merit to letting the 75-year-old copy editors and aloof writers go when there are really talented young folks out of work and considering leaving the business forever.

 

Release the hounds, old farts. :

 

Get off my lawn!

 

You're pulling that stuff out of context. No one would suggest that EVERY young worker is harder working than EVERY older worker. Ed Bouchette is a great writer on the Steelers beat. Dejan Kovacevic does a fantastic job covering the Pirates and is the best in the market at it. Mike White is the best high school writer in that half of the state. They have good columnists. No one in their right mind would argue that it would be better for the P-G to let one of those guys go for a younger writer.

There ARE, however, some people in some places (not just Pittsburgh) who are coasting. Be they 40 or 70. But if they are producing sloppy crap and slacking off, they should be warned. And if they don't improve, they should be let go. It's that simple. And there are thousands of younger writers who would be happy to replace them and try to adhere to the standards that their predecessors didn't.