Do as I say, not as I do --- Bham News spikes columnist's piece on buyouts

[Steak Snabler]

Birmingham News management spikes columnist's piece on newsroom buyouts:

http://ikepigott.posterous.com/john-archibalds-unpublished-column

A little more background ...

http://mediaofbirmingham.com/2010/04/20/john-archibald-column-the-birmingham-news-buyout/

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Re: Do as I say, not as I do

John Archibald’s column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Write him at [email protected]

Not anymore.

 

[disgruntledgrunt]

Re: Do as I say, not as I do

A media outlet that holds other companies to the fire and demands they speak on the record about layoffs and buyouts, but clams up on their own ****-ups. Typical asshole media mismanagement.

 

[Steak Snabler]

Re: Do as I say, not as I do

One interesting note from the spiked column: The B'ham News has lost 500 years of experience in just two years due to buyouts.

That's incredible ... and a damn shame.

 

[Ace]

Re: Do as I say, not as I do


So did the dude get fired for writing that?

 

[lone star scribe]

Re: Do as I say, not as I do

It has always amazed me that media executives think their readers are so stupid that they can't detect the hypocrisy in this stance.

The media in general does an absolutely horse**** job covering itself. Usually it takes a rival competitor to point out the bad news, whether it's hiding buyouts and layoffs, misreporting circulation claims, or spinning falling profit margins.

Contemptible. And not surprising.

 

[SixToe]

Re: Do as I say, not as I do

Birmingham has sister papers in Huntsville and Mobile that also have experienced buyout departures.

How much combined experience has been lost at all three papers in the last two years?

Nice piece by Archibald. Crying shame what has happened in our industry.

 

[HejiraHenry]

Re: Do as I say, not as I do

Pretty small-minded to not publish this. Standard gutless practice, though.

 

[huntsie]

Re: Do as I say, not as I do

I wrote a light piece one time about how my newspaper doesn't get delivered on time. They killed it.
"I won't let anything appear that is critical of our newspaper," was what the boss said.

 

[Versatile]

Re: Do as I say, not as I do

For the record, this line is crap: "We’ve lost 32 people in the newsroom. Twenty were reporters, the real workhorses."

Thanks for that, John.

Sincerely,

Every damn person who has ever caught a mistake in any of your stories or columns.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Re: Do as I say, not as I do

Stupid of the paper not to publish the column. Have they heard of this invention called the Internet? It's not like they are the only news outlet anymore.

More people would have respect for the paper if they would have just taken their lumps and run the column. I understand if they don't want a habit made out of ripping themselves. But when you're chopping 32 jobs, it's newsworthy to your readers. They owe it to them to report.

 

[MacDaddy]

Re: Do as I say, not as I do

A media outlet that holds other companies to the fire and demands they speak on the record about layoffs and buyouts, but clams up on their own ****-ups. Typical asshole media mismanagement.

Plus it's now getting about a thousand times as much attention as if they'd just run the column.

 

[FreddiePatek]

Re: Do as I say, not as I do

For the record, this line is crap: "We’ve lost 32 people in the newsroom. Twenty were reporters, the real workhorses."

Thanks for that, John.

Sincerely,

Every damn person who has ever caught a mistake in any of your stories or columns.

I know what you're saying, but I don't think he intended any slight toward copy editors ... I think he was gunning for the higher pay grades.

 

[Point of Order]

Re: Do as I say, not as I do

It's kind of beside the point considering the circumstances, but the actual column itself was a damn fine piece of work. Also, Steak, may I suggest changing the subject so people can find this thread more easily? Thanks.

 

[Wade]

Thanks

I just wanted to say thanks for posting the link to the Media of Birmingham story.

We've updated the story to reflect comments from John Archibald and his editor, and that he's back at work.

But, as you can see, the damage has been done.

 

[SportsDude]

My local paper of record spent years deriding companies for moving out of the city and into the suburbs or Mexico. Then two years later, built a brand new printing plant a full county away to catch a tax break.

 

[slappy4428]

i thought the Poynter piece was well done.
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=101&aid=181928

 

[deskslave]

For the record, this line is crap: "We’ve lost 32 people in the newsroom. Twenty were reporters, the real workhorses."

Thanks for that, John.

Sincerely,

Every damn person who has ever caught a mistake in any of your stories or columns.

I know what you're saying, but I don't think he intended any slight toward copy editors ... I think he was gunning for the higher pay grades.

Whether he intended it or not, it's still a slight. At best, it shows a lack of consideration for people who do jobs other than his own.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

i thought the Poynter piece was well done.
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=101&aid=181928

"He told me that Editor Tom Scarritt objected to the pessimistic tone of the column -- Archibald called it "funereal" -- and to the public disclosure of staffing figures."

Well, you're cutting jobs. What was he supposed to write, the same happy corporate-speak of "We're repositioning our products for the future matrixes so we can be more vertical!" or some crap like that?

The job of journalists, in many ways, is to be like an umpire. You have to call it as you see it. Cutting jobs isn't a good thing, unless you're the corporate idiot whining about his profit margin.

 

[Point of Order]

For the record, this line is crap: "We’ve lost 32 people in the newsroom. Twenty were reporters, the real workhorses."

Thanks for that, John.

Sincerely,

Every damn person who has ever caught a mistake in any of your stories or columns.

Quit whining desk jockey. :D