For Whom The Bell Tolls

[Italian_Stallion]

We're faced with all kinds of sad, sobering news in our world these days. But do we have a running thread? Should we? I thought it might be nice to have a thread where we can put faces and names to the changes, where I don't have to miss what happened to a particular poster simply because I overlooked that particular thread.

So maybe we could just post what's going on with our jobs, our papers, our world. In any case, I want to tell my story, and you can feel free to add your story.

The short story is that I left a spot as an AME with a crumbling daily three years ago. I had been there only seven months after moving over from the trade mag world. For the past three years, I've been building myself a nice freelance career. I work mainly for local dailies, big ones.

But the past few months have been stark, and it just sobers me a little to the reality of our industry. The paper I left shut its doors permanently (I guess?) two weeks ago. My biggest freelance client suffered huge cuts last year in sports that left almost nothing for me. Then my second biggest client did the same in sports in December.

For the past six months, I've been doing lots of local news and features correspondent work for one of those clients. But it was announced today that the whole bureau is closing.

Tomorrow I start back at square one like a lot of other folks who've poured much of their lives into this profession.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

We're faced with all kinds of sad, sobering news in our world these days. But do we have a running thread? Should we? I thought it might be nice to have a thread where we can put faces and names to the changes, where I don't have to miss what happened to a particular poster simply because I overlooked that particular thread.

So maybe we could just post what's going on with our jobs, our papers, our world. In any case, I want to tell my story, and you can feel free to add your story.

The short story is that I left a spot as an AME with a crumbling daily three years ago. I had been there only seven months after moving over from the trade mag world. For the past three years, I've been building myself a nice freelance career. I work mainly for local dailies, big ones.

But the past few months have been stark, and it just sobers me a little to the reality of our industry. The paper I left shut its doors permanently (I guess?) two weeks ago. My biggest freelance client suffered huge cuts last year in sports that left almost nothing for me. Then my second biggest client did the same in sports in December.

For the past six months, I've been doing lots of local news and features correspondent work for one of those clients. But it was announced today that the whole bureau is closing.

Tomorrow I start back at square one like a lot of other folks who've poured much of their lives into this profession.

Don't worry, Obama will make everything better.

 

[PeteyPirate]

We're faced with all kinds of sad, sobering news in our world these days. But do we have a running thread? Should we? I thought it might be nice to have a thread where we can put faces and names to the changes, where I don't have to miss what happened to a particular poster simply because I overlooked that particular thread.

So maybe we could just post what's going on with our jobs, our papers, our world. In any case, I want to tell my story, and you can feel free to add your story.

The short story is that I left a spot as an AME with a crumbling daily three years ago. I had been there only seven months after moving over from the trade mag world. For the past three years, I've been building myself a nice freelance career. I work mainly for local dailies, big ones.

But the past few months have been stark, and it just sobers me a little to the reality of our industry. The paper I left shut its doors permanently (I guess?) two weeks ago. My biggest freelance client suffered huge cuts last year in sports that left almost nothing for me. Then my second biggest client did the same in sports in December.

For the past six months, I've been doing lots of local news and features correspondent work for one of those clients. But it was announced today that the whole bureau is closing.

Tomorrow I start back at square one like a lot of other folks who've poured much of their lives into this profession.

Don't worry, Obama will make everything better.

Because he knows how to read.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Obama will fix the problems with newspapers after he wins the war and cures cancer in his first day in office.

 

[PeteyPirate]

About the same time Mizzou stops acting like a ****.

 

[Mediator]

Nice hijack of a good potential thread.

 

[mustangj17]

Obama will fix the problems with newspapers after he wins the war and cures cancer in his first day in office.

As well as the housing crisis, baseball's steroids problem and SNL.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Obama will fix the problems with newspapers after he wins the war and cures cancer in his first day in office.

As well as the housing crisis, baseball's steroids problem and SNL.

That's Week 2.

 

[Joe Williams]

We're faced with all kinds of sad, sobering news in our world these days. But do we have a running thread? Should we? I thought it might be nice to have a thread where we can put faces and names to the changes, where I don't have to miss what happened to a particular poster simply because I overlooked that particular thread.

So maybe we could just post what's going on with our jobs, our papers, our world. In any case, I want to tell my story, and you can feel free to add your story.

The short story is that I left a spot as an AME with a crumbling daily three years ago. I had been there only seven months after moving over from the trade mag world. For the past three years, I've been building myself a nice freelance career. I work mainly for local dailies, big ones.

But the past few months have been stark, and it just sobers me a little to the reality of our industry. The paper I left shut its doors permanently (I guess?) two weeks ago. My biggest freelance client suffered huge cuts last year in sports that left almost nothing for me. Then my second biggest client did the same in sports in December.

For the past six months, I've been doing lots of local news and features correspondent work for one of those clients. But it was announced today that the whole bureau is closing.

Tomorrow I start back at square one like a lot of other folks who've poured much of their lives into this profession.

Trying to get this back on track after a promising start...

I feel your pain, Stallion.

And today I'm wondering: Why does it seem as if we worker bees are taking all of this so much harder, and at a more visceral level, than the suits and upper management? Why is it that so many of us are having our dreams smashed, our calling crushed, while for the suits it's just time to get to work on budget/staff cuts and Plan Bs?

Does the newspaper crisis feel different if you're at that level -- big bucks salary, other perks, as you look down on your minions scrambling to do their jobs -- or do those jobs not require the same sort of passion, dedication and sacrifice that we front-liners are expected to have? Guess, in the end, I'm wondering if a war fought from a board room is different from a war fought on the front lines of newspapering, and I guess the answer is obvious.

Still, I have a hard time imagining a message board like this one, except where it is publishers, top editors and owners pouring out their hearts and opening veins over the horrors and sadness in this business. Does having a golden parachute or a headhunter on speed dial change the experience that much? Why are the grunts the ones who mourn the most (besides the fact that we can't afford to lose the incomes quite as readily)?

 

[PeteyPirate]

We're faced with all kinds of sad, sobering news in our world these days. But do we have a running thread? Should we? I thought it might be nice to have a thread where we can put faces and names to the changes, where I don't have to miss what happened to a particular poster simply because I overlooked that particular thread.

So maybe we could just post what's going on with our jobs, our papers, our world. In any case, I want to tell my story, and you can feel free to add your story.

The short story is that I left a spot as an AME with a crumbling daily three years ago. I had been there only seven months after moving over from the trade mag world. For the past three years, I've been building myself a nice freelance career. I work mainly for local dailies, big ones.

But the past few months have been stark, and it just sobers me a little to the reality of our industry. The paper I left shut its doors permanently (I guess?) two weeks ago. My biggest freelance client suffered huge cuts last year in sports that left almost nothing for me. Then my second biggest client did the same in sports in December.

For the past six months, I've been doing lots of local news and features correspondent work for one of those clients. But it was announced today that the whole bureau is closing.

Tomorrow I start back at square one like a lot of other folks who've poured much of their lives into this profession.

Trying to get this back on track after a promising start...

I feel your pain, Stallion.

And today I'm wondering: Why does it seem as if we worker bees are taking all of this so much harder, and at a more visceral level, than the suits and upper management? Why is it that so many of us are having our dreams smashed, our calling crushed, while for the suits it's just time to get to work on budget/staff cuts and Plan Bs?

Does the newspaper crisis feel different if you're at that level -- big bucks salary, other perks, as you look down on your minions scrambling to do their jobs -- or do those jobs not require the same sort of passion, dedication and sacrifice that we front-liners are expected to have? Guess, in the end, I'm wondering if a war fought from a board room is different from a war fought on the front lines of newspapering, and I guess the answer is obvious.

Still, I have a hard time imagining a message board like this one, except where it is publishers, top editors and owners pouring out their hearts and opening veins over the horrors and sadness in this business. Does having a golden parachute or a headhunter on speed dial change the experience that much? Why are the grunts the ones who mourn the most (besides the fact that we can't afford to lose the incomes quite as readily)?

I've never been in a position to fire anyone, but I can't imagine that it would be an enjoyable experience, especially if that person(s) did not do anything to deserve it other than exist in difficult times. I've spoken to people who say it is the worst part of being a boss, and I believe they meant it when they said it. That said, what is the alternative? To martyr themselves? I'm not ashamed to say that if my directive is to cut costs, and the most logical conclusion to reach this goal is to let employees go, then that's what I'm going to do. I'm not going to offer to take a pay cut just to assuage my guilt, either. It's my job, and it's not the same as a journalists' job. The reporters are definitely the ones feeling the pain of management's actions, but I'm not going to assume that it's a cakewalk for the bosses just because they're the ones wielding the ax. In a way they are admitting failure when they execute layoffs, and that isn't pleasant for anyone, regardless of whether that person has a fat paycheck.

 

[Moderator1]

Well, hell. I hesitate to say this because I don't want to sound all high and mighty but I'll say it anyway.
I always promised myself I'd go before I got rid of someone in a layoff situation.
I've dismissed people. It blows. Anyone who says otherwise is an asshole of the highest order.
To do it for no reason other than economic times? I cannot imagine looking someone who busted ass for me in the face and saying, "Well *** we're going broke. You're out." No ****ing way.
One of the reasons my new job was so appealing (one of many) was it kept me from having to do that.

 

[PeteyPirate]

Well, hell. I hesitate to say this because I don't want to sound all high and mighty but I'll say it anyway.
I always promised myself I'd go before I got rid of someone in a layoff situation.
I've dismissed people. It blows. Anyone who says otherwise is an asshole of the highest order.
To do it for no reason other than economic times? I cannot imagine looking someone who busted ass for me in the face and saying, "Well *** we're going broke. You're out." No ****ing way.
One of the reasons my new job was so appealing (one of many) was it kept me from having to do that.

I can respect the sentiment, but it would seem to me to be tilting at windmills. I see no dishonor in acknowledging reality and acting accordingly. When companies are going broke, people are going to get fired. I don't think it's pleasant for the people out on their asses or the people who put them there, although at least they still have jobs.

 

[Moderator1]

Maybe.
But if I go, one other person stays. For at least a while. And I guess I'm not tough enough or something but it used to make me ill at the thought of letting someone go for no reason other than economics.

 

[BYH]

Most companies aren't going broke. They're just making a ****pot of money...but less than before.

 

[Italian_Stallion]

I think we can applaud Moddy's position. It's admirable. I think everyone wishes they could do that. But it's just not reality for everyone. I'll have to admit that it's tough to get a perspective on something when you haven't been in those shoes.

I can imagine that it might be difficult to leave a place where you've spent your entire life and then leave it to crumble to the ground. I imagine some managers have a desire to repair the ship. Perhaps that causes them to hang on and struggle through some difficult layoffs.

Perhaps others are just downright selfish or frightened. It might not be the macho approach. But nobody took an oath. It's only natural for people to protect themselves, too. Where one editor might be able to or willing to walk away, another guy might have been diagnosed with cancer two weeks ago. He might go home and put a gun in his mouth because he's so upset that he had to let a desker go. We just don't know.

I just don't think it's right to judge people. Not anyone. And that doesn't mean I'm not guilty of it myself. It's an easy thing to do. We're taught that. Sports journalism is all about that.

But that doesn't make it smart, acceptable or admirable. I can applaud Moddy. But I don't have to agree with him completely. Sure, in a perfect world, we'd all do that. I was a editor for a short time, and I would have walked away for another employee. But there were weeks that my wife would have slapped me across the face for even thinking of it.

Even when people come on a thread with their bitterness and showcase their jealousy and hatred, I try hard not to judge them. I might want to tear them a new asshole. I might want to paint them in a negative light. But it goes away. I understand. We all handle emotions in different ways. Stress, jealousy, anger, they're all expressed by people in different ways. Nobody is just rotten to the soul or completely selfish. Something has to trigger that.

Without compassion and compromise, we just keep falling into the abyss. I said it before, back when I was still posting under another name and making enemies over silly **** over which I have no power. And I'll say it again.

Be a soldier, brothers and sisters. Stand up and be a ****ing soldier. We're on the same side of this war. I'll be damned if I'm going to stand here while we take aim at each other.

 

[WriteThinking]

That was a great post, Italian_Stallion.

Really. I see your points, and would agree with everything you said, as well as with the sentiments expressed.

But to answer Joe Williams' questions:

Yes, making much more money than your subordinates, or having a golden parachute when you leave, does soften any blows -- any at all, that the higher-ups may have to give, or that they agree to take, themselves, for the good of others. It may not feel to them at the time that it does that.

Nonetheless, it's like watching someone else, someone who doesn't have a life jacket, go down with a sinking ship (literally, a sinking ship), while you cling for dear life to your vest. Sure, when it's happening, you'd be horrified, and terrified, and feel panicked and horrible for the other person.

But you'd still be glad you had the life jacket. You'd still rather it be somebody else that drowns, and not you.

So, yes, it changes everything.

The higher-ups simply are not in the same position, one of being forced to leave. And even if they decide on their own to do so, it is probably, essentially, because they can -- thanks to that very fact that they made so much more money all along, or have accumulated so much more of a severance package, or, for whatever reasons, they're unworried enough about their job prospects and the future, to be able to make such a choice.

It is that greater power of choice -- made possible because they have more available, viable and livable options -- that is usually the difference between employers/supervisors, and most of their employees.

Now, that is not necessarily wrong -- or right, either. It's just the way it is. But it allows them, even if not us, to survive.

And, right now, that's what this industry is all about: survival.

 

[thegrifter]

That was a great post, Italian_Stallion.

And, right now, that's what this industry is all about: survival.

I couldn't agree with that more.

 

[Joe Williams]

Thanks, W.T., nice perspective.

 

[Italian_Stallion]

So here's a stupid question. Can someone who is 35 expect to find a spot before someone who is 22 and fresh from college? Because logic tells you a paper should hire the most qualified candidate. Either way, someone is left in the cold with the door shut in his/her face. Then again, both that 35- and 22-year-old might be standing out there together for a long, long time.

Oh, and I got confirmation today that my freelance gig isn't quite up yet. I'm not sure what that means. But it's bittersweet given that I know staffers who are facing an uncertain future after today's layoffs.

 

[RossLT]

Well, hell. I hesitate to say this because I don't want to sound all high and mighty but I'll say it anyway.
I always promised myself I'd go before I got rid of someone in a layoff situation.
I've dismissed people. It blows. Anyone who says otherwise is an asshole of the highest order.
To do it for no reason other than economic times? I cannot imagine looking someone who busted ass for me in the face and saying, "Well *** we're going broke. You're out." No ****ing way.
One of the reasons my new job was so appealing (one of many) was it kept me from having to do that.

I can guarantee you with 195% certainty that the boss that let me go loved every minute of it