Sun-Sentinel cuts coming soon

Joe, I'll say this: You so, so have got a grip that I do intend to write in your name in November, if I don't like the running mates of the prez. candidates. I'm serious. The buyout-phase factor of the subtle direction to the exit sign by the cronies is the most significant aspect of the buyouts of the past two years, nationwide. The wink-wink (scratch mine, and...) goes to the buttressing cronies and brown-butters. The atmosphere becomes so unbearable during the months, in some cases, of trying to decide what THEY might be saying without words, that no one can meet anyone else's eyes. Welcome to Buyout World, where you wait until a sharp (not mentally) object will dice, slice, cut and chop. Eventually, you just throw up every day until Hatchet Day. By then, even if they wanted you to stay and even if they begged, and you know they need your story ideas (even if just to pass them to crony-suck-ups), you'd so rather be workin' in a car wash. It's all atmospheric, all, all, all.

The Flea (former Pulitzer nominee and current car-washer.)
(I stand by my ideals, eat CupaSoup with a sense of redemption, and am personally responsible for 72 dropped subscriptions.)

 

Thanks, flea. If drafted, I'll run! And hopefully time my exit from the biz to a buyout round, taking a nice check to D.C. with me.

STLIrish, "pretend" has nothing to do with it. It does make a difference where one sits, I'll agree. But these buyouts are, in many cases, simply a way for management to shed people who have been around longer, navigating around the reverse seniority approach. It often gets made clear, directly or indirectly, that someone who doesn't take the buyout might find themselves stuck in an unsavory role. Or doing two person's workload. I hope you don't get shown the door for a much smaller severance, but I also hope you are taking notes on the industry you're in, one with far less ambition journalistically and a growing tendency to define all of us, old or young, newcomer or vet, by how much we cost them in salary and benefits. One day you will wake up and be the guy who got a few raises and now is priced higher than a (lesser) replacement.

I also would be more easily persuaded about the "voluntary" aspect if the difference in parting checks -- buyout vs. layoff -- was considerable. Usually, the amount of cash is the same (two weeks per year of service). If those who got bought-out were getting three or four weeks per year of service, then yeah, I'd see more happy positivity in that.

 

The sad part about what you say (and it's becoming true at more and more places) is that we're becoming like the pro players and teams we cover, only we're at the independent-league scale of pay. And media outlets are starting to run shops like pro teams. Teams are always looking for the younger, cheaper guy on the rise, unless they have a bona fide superstar who's worth the big bucks. If you've been around too long, you might still be productive enough, but if there's another person coming along who's younger, costs less and isn't that big of a drop-off (at least in the suits' eyes), you'll become a free agent, so to speak.
Only problems, of course, are: One, there's not much of a free-agent market, though maybe we should try going to Europe. Seems to work for some players. Two, unlike sports, papers have yet to find ways of getting fans to pay through the nose for things like personal seat licenses and merchandise. And three, papers are trying to field competitive teams with decimated rosters. It's turning into a what amounts to a low-level independent baseball league being run into the ground by incompetents and we're turning into the powerless free-agents-to-be who can still hit a few out of the park but aren't getting any bites.

 

He's 65. His wife lives in Tampa, so they were bi-costal before he relocated.

I saw him every day at the French Open and Wimbledon, and he never mentioned it. He did do plenty of travelling in Europe before, in between and after. But I wasn't sure if that was what he regularly did, so it set off no "this is probably the last time" red flags.

 

I get what you're saying, but you're leaving out the undrafted free agents (recent college grads and the like) who sign on with a team, only to get cut 10 weeks later.
It's not an age thing right now. It's not even a race thing.
It's just fucked up in all directions.

 

Except for Orlando, I haven't heard of anywhere else where people are getting sent down after 10 weeks (thankfully). But you're right. It's absolutely fucked up. And makes me wonder if half these chains will even be afloat five years from now. That includes web operations.

 

Methinks Florida papers are in bigger trouble than most. It sickens me.

 

The housing market will begin its recovery down here.... I am less worried than others.