Diane Pucin cut by LA Times

[SnarkShark]

Very sad...

http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2014/01/longtime_la_times_sportsw.php

Anyone that needs a writer who has produced over 300 stories some years, been a columnist at two papers, done 7 Olympics, 10 Wimbledons, countless college football and basketball games and takeouts, I'm available. Once I stop crying of course.

 

[Colton]

God, this sucks..

 

[Moderator1]

Interesting. One of my guys is leaving to go there next month.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

She's in the first phase of shock. Next comes the hundreds of calls, tweets, FB messages and emails telling her how wronged she was. Then, anger will set in... Acceptance is a long way off...

I'm guessing she'll be hired relatively quickly.

 

[MileHigh]

Been reading her for many years in the LAT.

Was originally booked on one of the 9/11 planes.

http://articles.latimes.com/2001/sep/16/sports/sp-46359

 

[WriteThinking]

She's in the first phase of shock. Next comes the hundreds of calls, tweets, FB messages and emails telling her how wronged she was. Then, anger will set in... Acceptance is a long way off...

I'm guessing she'll be hired relatively quickly.

I hope she is hired again relatively quickly. If so, well, then, anger won't set in, and acceptance won't be necessary. It'll just be something that happened, she'll take a little bit of a vacation and then she'll have moved on already, maybe to some big web site that she's probably had her eye on as a future option (if she needed it), anyway.

That said, there's nothing that says for sure that she will be hired again relatively quickly. There are lots of younger-gun options out there, and sometimes, no matter how good your work, that's what matters now. If anywhere, this is where the anger will come from.

This is a case of there not being much fat to cut from a paper anymore, and being among the first in the pecking order for a cut among reporters/writers with the bigger salaries there.

 

[Keystone]

She's in the first phase of shock. Next comes the hundreds of calls, tweets, FB messages and emails telling her how wronged she was. Then, anger will set in... Acceptance is a long way off...

I'm guessing she'll be hired relatively quickly.

I hope she is hired again relatively quickly. If so, well, then, anger won't set in, and acceptance won't be necessary. It'll just be something that happened, she'll take a little bit of a vacation and then she'll have moved on already, maybe to some big web site that she's probably had her eye on as a future option (if she needed it), anyway.

That said, there's nothing that says for sure that she will be hired again relatively quickly. There are lots of younger-gun options out there, and sometimes, no matter how good your work, that's what matters now. If anywhere, this is where the anger will come from.

This is a case of there not being much fat to cut from a paper anymore, and being among the first in the pecking order for a cut among reporters/writers with the bigger salaries there.

Correct. Experience is a liability these days. A lot of media outlets would rather go the young-n-cheap route.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

It's an odd business model where employees are punished for previous contributions to the company due to the rewards the company gave them for it. A newspaper with a staff of reporters exclusively young is as limited as one full of codgers like me, not that the product matters one bit.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

It's an odd business model where employees are punished for previous contributions to the company due to the rewards the company gave them for it. A newspaper with a staff of reporters exclusively young is as limited as one full of codgers like me, not that the product matters one bit.

Yeah, I thought about that one a lot after I got the boot. I was the highest-paid non-columnist on staff and I had just gotten a pretty big raise, that I didn't ask for, but the Executive Editor said, "We want to make sure you don't get tempted to go anywhere else..." and six months later I'm done...

If you think about it too much, it's a total mind****.

 

[MisterCreosote]

It's an odd business model where employees are punished for previous contributions to the company due to the rewards the company gave them for it. A newspaper with a staff of reporters exclusively young is as limited as one full of codgers like me, not that the product matters one bit.

It's a business model that relies on people to "do it because they love it/it's in their blood," so publishers can avoid having to pay for quality.

 

[Joe Williams]

It's an odd business model where employees are punished for previous contributions to the company due to the rewards the company gave them for it. A newspaper with a staff of reporters exclusively young is as limited as one full of codgers like me, not that the product matters one bit.

It's a business model that relies on people to "do it because they love it/it's in their blood," so publishers can avoid having to pay for quality.

It's also not specific to newspapers or media. In whatever business your compensation surpasses your perceived value, you're going to be in the red zone for the ax. This is one of those businesses -- unlike a sales job -- where there's no tangible evidence of your worth. If you provide great coverage or just OK coverage, what's the difference to the bosses and who in the executive suite much cares? I guess nowadays clicks can be counted, but a lot of those can be attributed to the duty rather than the person performing it.

Pucin is talented and should be fine, and probably was fortunate to have lasted this long. It's sad this is hitting her so hard, because the scrutiny and wisdom she brings to her work would have served her well if she'd been paying attention to everything going on at the LA Times and Tribune Co. She might have gotten in front of this divorce a while ago. This is a classic "Why me? Why not me?" situation.

 

[inkstainedwretch2]

I am "old" and I was tired. So when the buyout came (Thank you, Jesus), it wasn't a hard decision. Eight weeks later, it feels as if I lost a limb. I'm probably better off than most, but as I read her email, the feelings only intensified. Yep, the new normal

 

[poindexter]

And Chris Erskine is *still* on the LAT sports pages....
huh.

 

[SnarkShark]

Just heard she was fired with cause, which changes things considerably. Can't get the reason, though.

 

[Fran Curci]

I don't know why anyone would say she "will be fine" and hired soon. Nothing to do with ability. How often do people with that much experience get hired anywhere these days?

 

[mpcincal]

And Chris Erskine is *still* on the LAT sports pages....
huh.

I had decided I wasn't going to come on here and belabor the point, but, yeah, definitely this. In fact, it was my very first thought as soon as I saw the thread title.

 

[BTExpress]

I don't know why anyone would say she "will be fine" and hired soon. Nothing to do with ability. How often do people with that much experience get hired anywhere these days?

Just guessing, but i'd say she has amassed a number of connections that dwarf most people who are looking for work. No guarantee, but it sure helps.

 

[SixToe]

Experience is a liability these days. A lot of media outlets would rather go the young-n-cheap route.

Bingo.

 

[WriteThinking]

Experience is a liability these days. A lot of media outlets would rather go the young-n-cheap route.

Bingo.

I am not even sure it is a "young-and-cheap" thing anymore. I really think it's a young-and-willing/able-to-work-24-7."

It's a willingness/energy thing. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Most people older than 30 do not want to spend their days wasting time tweeting/blogging about every little thing. The 24-hour news cycle is not something anybody who leaves (or is forced out of) the business will miss before long.

It's the people, not the work, that is missed, for long afterward.

 

[Joe Williams]

Experience is a liability these days. A lot of media outlets would rather go the young-n-cheap route.

Bingo.

I am not even sure it is a "young-and-cheap" thing anymore. I really think it's a young-and-willing/able-to-work-24-7."

It's a willingness/energy thing. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Most people older than 30 do not want to spend their days wasting time tweeting/blogging about every little thing. The 24-hour news cycle is not something anybody who leaves (or is forced out of) the business will miss before long.

It's the people, not the work, that is missed, for long afterward.

Don't know any newsroom veterans who were asked, "Are you willing to work '24/7,' to use the cliche, or at least to do more (work) for less (pay) than you already are?", before they were dumped. If top brass is making presumptions about employees based on that, it is opening itself up to age discrimination claims. But it can simply look at payroll records and know precisely who is and who isn't hauling in more cash than it wants to, or feels it needs to, pay.