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Star-Ledger N.J.: buyout of 200 or bust

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by inkfingers, Jul 31, 2008.

  1. Joe Williams

    Joe Williams Well-Known Member

    If I read that right, it's a buyout plan and it's a salary "adjustment" for some of those left standing. I've since heard that many will face quite significant salary cuts to get long-timers' paychecks more in line with newer hires'.

    So there will be pain if you go and pain if you stay.

    Yeah, it's a calling.
     
  2. podunk press

    podunk press Active Member

    I do believe I'd take that buyout.

    What bothered me was using the "unprecedented recession" line yet again. Last I checked, the recession ended. I wish the suits would just be honest. You know, something like this:

    Hey guys and gals,

    Sorry I didn't send this out sooner. I was in the midst of a four-day weekend while you worker bees toiled away.

    Anyway, we're still losing too much money. Some of you have got to go. Some of you have fat salaries. Ideally, we'd like to replace you old farts with idealistic recent journalism grads who will work for $25K and not bitch about it. So we're offering you money to go. Please. Take it.

    Also, to clarify: The recession IS over. We're not cutting costs for that reason. We're cutting costs because our economic model is failing and idiots like me were too comfortable and stupid to change with the times. So eventually, we're all going to be out of a job. The good news? I get a golden parachute. Isn't that fantastic?

    Oh, please keep Tweeting and posting to Facebook. We think that's how the young folks get their news. And if you haven't blogged yet today, please fill your quota of three before going home for the night.

    Signed,
    Management
     
  3. Frank_Ridgeway

    Frank_Ridgeway Well-Known Member

    You could make that generalization about publishers and maybe be right 80 percent of the time. However, that particular guy came up through a newsroom where the resources were minimal yet under his supervision still produced stories that, while initially unpopular with many people, eventually resulted in entrenched politicians going to prison. He paid his dues for decades in assorted shitholes and is one of those rare people who truly believes it when he talks about newspapers as a force for serving the public good. I wrote a note to him when his paper folded in the early 1990s; I still have his response in a box somewhere upstairs. His pain was so palpable a month later that I will never forget reading about it while I was working in a rich city far away. Not everyone who runs a newspaper is a soulless douchebag.
     
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