Source: Five out at Baltimore Sun

[Lucas Wiseman]

According to an e-mail tip, several folks in the sports department at the Baltimore Sun have taken voluntary buyouts.

Among those out are columnist John Eisenberg, copy editor Mike Reeb and reporters Paul McMullen, Kent Baker and Gary Lambrecht.

The source says: "No word yet on how the jobs are being filled. There's some scuttlebutt about golf writer Don Markus doing Navy and perhaps some Ravens features. The paper has stopped covering the Redskins and Wizards."

 

[Moderator1]

Did Michael Phelps ever cover Michael Phelps? That would have made quite a story.

I know three of those guys.

 

[Shawon Dunston Checks In]

They've stopped covering the Redskins and Wizards? Good lord, we're doomed.

 

[Editude]

Friend of mine went to the Sun a few months back in a non-editorial position. She says it's a toxic environment right now, with management struggling to transition to a workable model. I hope those who leave can find a better circumstance.

 

[wickedwritah]

They've stopped covering the Redskins and Wizards? Good lord, we're doomed.

Next time, use the blue font.

First, I didn't know they covered the Wizards.

Second, since the Skins play in Landover, coverage probably is warranted.

 

[Football_Bat]

Did Michael Phelps ever cover Michael Phelps? That would have made quite a story.

Or not.

The Dallas Morning News went through a navel-gazing phase a while back where staff writers googled themselves and wrote stories about persons of the same name (e.g. Dave Levinthal).

 

[Shawon Dunston Checks In]

They've stopped covering the Redskins and Wizards? Good lord, we're doomed.

Next time, use the blue font.

First, I didn't know they covered the Wizards.

Second, since the Skins play in Landover, coverage probably is warranted.

I was (mostly) serious. The NFL is the biggest thing going in sports in this country, and the Wizards are the only NBA franchise in their backyard, last I checked.

I'm nowhere near Baltimore, but from a distance, it seems odd they wouldn't cover those teams.

 

[wickedwritah]

They've always used wire on the road for the Wizards and Caps, for as long as I can remember. Maybe it was different when they played in Landover. And sometimes I could've sworn I saw wire stories for home games, too.

Skins, I always remember them covering them home and away, so this definitely is a new one.

 

[Flying Headbutt]

No one in Baltimore gives a rat's ass about the Deadskins. The Wizards may have a better following. But I think colleges and high school hoops get more attention.

 

[wickedwritah]

Might've been a tad different before the Browns moved to Balto.

 

[Shawon Dunston Checks In]

Fair enough. Like I said, I don't have a good pulse on that market.

 

[Shawon Dunston Checks In]

And by the way, best of luck to those departing the Sun. Scary time to be unemployed in this line of work.

 

[chazp]

Stopped covering the Redskins and Wizards? Readers are going to love that. [blue]Cutting back sports coverage, great idea.[/blue]

 

[oldhack]

Not staffing Redskins and Wizards makes loads of sense for the Sun. Now that Ravens are there, Redskins are irrelevant to Sun readers except perhaps a few who live closer to the District. And many of those have become Ravens fans because it was impossible to buy Redskins season tickets unless your family had had them for 20 years. As for the Wizards, even when they played in the Cap Center it was the drug dealers' team. Tickets were expensive and taking your kids to a Bullets game was hardly a wholesome family experience. Besides, Balto had long before forgotten about the Bullets. Sun readers care about the Orioles, Ravens, the Terps and high school sports. The paper will miss Eisenberg. Great wordsmith (that's why he was hired). Baker has been around forever and has covered everything. But unfortunately it's the utility players who are losing out in this madness.

 

[printdust]

According to an e-mail tip, several folks in the sports department at the Baltimore Sun have taken voluntary buyouts.

Among those out are columnist John Eisenberg and reporters Michael Phelps, Paul McMullen, Kent Baker and Gary Lambrecht.

The source says: "No word yet on how the jobs are being filled. There's some scuttlebutt about golf writer Don Markus doing Navy and perhaps some Ravens features. The paper has stopped covering the Redskins and Wizards."

Some banker on the ****ing BOD didn't get his quarterly bonus and his $10 million home upgrade is delayed. Sorry. No more Redskins. **** relevancy. **** it with vengeance. It isn't about relevancy when you water down your product and people are choosing between gas to get to work and a product whose owner tells you, "Buy me even though I keep taking away what you like."

 

[wickedwritah]

Some banker on the ****ing BOD didn't get his quarterly bonus and his $10 million home upgrade is delayed. Sorry. No more Redskins. **** relevancy. **** it with vengeance. It isn't about relevancy when you water down your product and people are choosing between gas to get to work and a product whose owner tells you, "Buy me even though I keep taking away what you like."

In an ideal world, no beats or jobs would be cut.

But to say that the Wizards and Caps are relevant is a stretch. Last time Baltimore cared that much about the Caps probably was when their farm team, the Skipjacks, was there. And the Redskins clearly are not important to most of The Sun's readers.

 

[jambalaya]

This is a bummer. Some of the names mentioned are real cool-cats in this biz. Baker is a blast, telling his stories of covering the Os. I think he covered damn-near everything for the Sun. McMullen is a swell guy, and best of luck to him and his son, who was seriously injured in a car wreck not long ago.

 

[oldhack]

According to an e-mail tip, several folks in the sports department at the Baltimore Sun have taken voluntary buyouts.

Among those out are columnist John Eisenberg and reporters Michael Phelps, Paul McMullen, Kent Baker and Gary Lambrecht.

The source says: "No word yet on how the jobs are being filled. There's some scuttlebutt about golf writer Don Markus doing Navy and perhaps some Ravens features. The paper has stopped covering the Redskins and Wizards."

Some banker on the ****ing BOD didn't get his quarterly bonus and his $10 million home upgrade is delayed. Sorry. No more Redskins. **** relevancy. **** it with vengeance. It isn't about relevancy when you water down your product and people are choosing between gas to get to work and a product whose owner tells you, "Buy me even though I keep taking away what you like."

As they say on the Eastern Shore, printdust, "You're not from around here, are you?"

Wicked and Flying Headbutt are right: Sun readers don't give a rat's ass about the Redskins. The Sun covered the 'Skins, and did a hell of a job, between Balto NFL teams. But mostly it just reminded the Colt diehards how much they hated the Redskins and the NFL. I suspect there was little response when the paper dropped full coverage.

 

[printdust]

I'll retract, Hack. But there are other similar examples where my case holds up.

 

[KVV]

I don't really recall a time when Michael Phelps worked at our paper. I DO, however, recall quite fondly the seven years I spend working with Mike Reeb, a fine copy editor and finer person who gave the Sun more than 30 years of his life.

Why don't we get that one corrected, if not here, then for out front for sure, Webby.

Kevin Van Valkenburg