What if it's your business?

Sorry if this is a D_B, and it could be, but being in Canada, I guess the question hit home more with the Sun Media announcement this week than many of the troubling announcements that have become all too common everywhere this year.

A lot of papers, especially in smaller cities and towns, cover layoffs in the manufacturing or other industry quite intensively, especially if those companies were major employers in that community. In reality, some of our shops were probably just as large and newsworthy employers and have similar economic hits when our people are the ones losing jobs.

If you're one of the "lucky" ones still working, how is it covered? Do you do the story? Does it change if it's your shop compared to the rivals? How much corporate info do you allow to get in there about "Why" and "how we'll still offer the same newspaper" etc?

 

When our company laid off 20 some people (self included), it was the lead story on the local TV news. The paper ran an 8-paragraph, non byline story on an inside page. Gotta bury the bad news, ya know.

 

My shop "restructured" four from editorial in October and never mentioned a word in print. The four names just disappeared from the paper.

In fact, I was threatened with punishment if I even wished the terrific guy they whacked from my department well in print.

Of course, we write a story about EVERY other area business that makes cuts, but no, not on our own.

Double standard, I asked?

You betcha, I was told.

 

Must suck to work in Alaska.

 

Today one day after the Winnipeg Sun ran a story about cuts at both Winnipeg daily newspapers, not just at home as announced by the national Sun organization, the Winnipeg Free Press ran a story headlined "Free Press will cut workforce by 5%." On Wednesday the FP ran a story headed "Sun Media slashes 600 jobs, 14 here" but there was no mention of its own cuts. Today Publisher Bob Cox is quoted as saying that the "belt-tightening" is not based on the paper's 17-day strike in October, but it didn't help matters.

A few days before the Sun cuts, the paper was pushing readers to its new-look website. For several months people have been able to pick up free copies of the paper seven days a week at boxes in parts of the city. For example, you have to pay for the paper at a box near a bus stop on a major road in my area, but it's free in the box on a less travelled street just one short block away. Some people are speculating that, with the cut of three news reporters this week, the paper will focus even more on nationally provided news and columns, battle the FP on sports where it holds it own, stop home delivery and turn into a freebee available only in boxes and on the web.