Scripps

We have to self-edit around here. All the copy editors have been laid off.

 

doesn't abilene already do the printing for san angelo?

 

Hasn't stopped the Singleton papers from making their desks undergo a half-dozen forced relocations in the last three years.

 

Yes.

 

I always thought that was one word.

But you're right, Peter.

 

The only real connections for the Scripps newspapers are Abilene and San Angelo. A lot of the same schools, mostly smaller ones, in both coverage areas.

Wichita Falls is out there. Corpus Christi is REALLY out there.

Sorry to hear about this. My thoughts are with all of those involved.

 

Geographically, Abilene makes more sense for a hub — it's in the center of the state. (San Angelo is "only" 90 miles south, which is a stone's throw by Texas standards.)

Corpus must've been selected because it's the biggest of the four papers by far.

 

Or because editors can pay even less for people to work there because it's near the beach.

The Caller-Times' office is down on the bayfront.

 

The "beach" in Corpus isn't exactly the type of beach when I think of place I want to go to the beach.

 

Management says that this move will make the newspapers more "efficient?"

I think they mean "cheap."

Just wait. The worst has yet to come.

 

I never quite understood how consolidating copy desk operations saved all that much. You still have to hire extra people wherever you consolidate, right?

For instance, if you have 4 news deskers on a given night doing one paper. Now you do four papers from the same desk. Well, you sure as hell aren't doing four papers with the same three people. So, you have to hire more bodies to cover the extra workload.

So it seems the only savings would come in terms of equipment (computer terminals, etc.) and such, eh? Someone please enlighten me.

 

Which means it will be one of the first places to be wiped out in the next major hurricane.