Star-Telegram update

[kleeda]

At the time Galloway was hired they were probably spending that kind of coin in Arlington every week.
My best to those affected, which really is everybody there.

 

[Moderator1]

More from The Pipeline:

A once-proud paper has become a complete joke. Most papers view online as the wave of the future, but not the S-T as evidenced by the ousting of nearly all of the web desk. The place to be is targeted publications, which are still allowed to create and fill positions and launch new products.

But what can you expect from an editor who famously sent out an e-mail following the inauguration, touting the print product saying basically that "readers can't keep an e-mail alert, but they do want to keep the paper". Moving to the website/online now only means you want to hone skills to prepare you for a new job when you're given in the next round of layoffs.

Less than 24 hours after the ax fell, Jim Witt was down questioning the heads of the Sports department what the "plan" was going forward -- who was going to cover TCU, etc. It's like nothing ever happened the day before. For Christsake, give us a little time to grieve. And of course we don't have a plan yet - you just let go 7 of our freaking writers ... and we still don't know who plans to take the buyout. Maybe if we had a say in who was let go, we would have a freaking plan.

Meanwhile, today at the COBRA information meetings for all those being let go, publisher Gary Wortel touted the S-T as still being a very, very profitable paper. "The whole chain isn't really profitable, but we are." You can imagine about how well that went over in a room full of people being told they're out of a job ...

 

[Michael_ Gee]

You know, when the Herald dumped people, including me, in 2005, the people doing the dumping behaved quite decently and with at least a modicum of sensitivity.
Did they install some test in 2005 for newspaper top management that only complete ****s are allowed in the field?

 

[SockPuppet]

I have complete and utter distain for the management at McClatchy (Gary "Golden Boy" Pruitt) and the Star-Telegram (Witt and Wortel; W=Worthless). Think of the worst fates you can wish on people and that's what I hope happens to them.

 

[Lucas Wiseman]

More from the pipeline:

The writers who will be let go if no others take the offered buyout include: NBA writer Jan Hubbard, horse racing writer Gary West, TCU beat writer Mercedes Mayer, A&M beat writer Lori Dann, and high school/general assignments writers Milenko Martinovich, Angel Verdejo and Trae Thompson. Also, two designers and a high school agate editor.

 

[Moderator1]

Didn't Gary come over from the Dallas paper when they made some changes there?

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Cutting? Why, the Star-Telegram is hiring:


http://www.journalismjobs.com/Job_Listing.cfm?JobID=1029031

Company: DFW.com (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
Position: Wanted: Freelance entertainment and
lifestyle writers
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Job Status: Freelance
Salary: Not Specified
Ad Expires: April 10, 2009
Job ID: 1029031


Description:
Are you an expert in food, fashion or the local entertainment scene? Do you live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and hang out at the coolest places alongside the hippest people?

DFW.com, a Web site and weekly print magazine that covers entertainment, nightlife, dining and style in the Mextroplex, is looking for talented freelancers who can share their passion and personality with our readers. We want writers with original ideas who can offer a unique take on familiar topics and who can guide readers to the best-kept secrets of the city.

Our ideal freelancers know the Dallas-Fort Worth market intimiately and are comfortable writing for and about the 18-to-35-year-olds who eat out, set trends, make a difference and have fun. We are particularly seeking out specialists in dining, fashion and environmental topics (our publication aims not just to tell readers how to spend their disposable income, but also how to make an impact on the world). If you are boring, unreliable or impossible to get along with, please do not apply.

Interested? Please e-mail three of your sharpest stories ideas and three of your best writing samples to Christopher Kelly, Entertainment Editor, [email protected]. No phone calls please.

This sounds cut-and-pasted from the ads that Examiner.com puts out everywhere. And that ain't good.

 

[lone star scribe]

More from the pipeline:

The writers who will be let go if no others take the offered buyout include: NBA writer Jan Hubbard, horse racing writer Gary West, TCU beat writer Mercedes Mayer, A&M beat writer Lori Dann, and high school/general assignments writers Milenko Martinovich, Angel Verdejo and Trae Thompson. Also, two designers and a high school agate editor.

Earlier posts indicated two copy editors would also be laid off, for a total of 11 positions. There are only 10 listed here. Is this no longer the case?

And yes, Gary West and Jan Hubbard came over from Dallas after layoffs there. They get the double whammy. Milenko Martinovich was part-time in Dallas, left for a full-time gig in FW.

 

[Football_Bat]

Gary West was the one the DMN laid off the week of the Breeder's Cup in the Metroplex.

 

[SockPuppet]

It's a freaking tragedy/travesy that Mercedes Mayer is being laid off of the freaking TCU beat. Next to covering the Cowboys, TCU is the most important beat at the paper. She's done a top-notch job since taking over the beat.

This move makes no sense. ... but then, sense ain't in the vocab of Witt and Wortel.

Maybe they'll just have Gil "The Color Purple" Lebreton cover the Froggies. He's been their PR columnist for years.

 

[lone star scribe]

Unless I'm mistaken, these writer cuts reflect last-hired, first-fired. I don't think they reflect anything else. Some of those writers had been there 5+ years.

 

[GuessWho]

Unless I'm mistaken, these writer cuts reflect last-hired, first-fired. I don't think they reflect anything else. Some of those writers had been there 5+ years.

You're not mistaken. Talent/competency have nothing to do with it. If it did, Mercedes and Lori wouldn't be on the way out.

 

[clutchcargo]

I thought Jan Hubbard went from the NBA to the FWST---he was at the DMN back in the late '80s and into the '90s, took an NBA media position for a number of years, then went back to the FWST where he had started out something like 30 years ago.

 

[lone star scribe]

I believe Jan went from Dallas to NBA to Dallas to Fort Worth over about a 20-year span.

Those seven writers represent a helluva lot of talent.

 

[da man]

Next to covering the Cowboys, TCU is the most important beat at the paper.

Not even close. TCU is way down the list.

Sorry to be picky. Being currently under the layoff gun myself, I truly feel for those at the S-T and wish them the best.

 

[Football_Bat]

Agreed. At both papers (DMN and S-T), pros >>>>>>>> colleges > preps (but not by much). Both papers have relegated preps to their special little online ghettos.

 

[ScribePharisee]

Anybody who thinks the downfall of this business had anything to do with the occasional person actually making good money has a serious misunderstanding of the situation.

No, but in the days when papers like the Dallas Morning News were like Sports Encyclopedia Brittanicas, departments spent money like drunken sailors. But if you're telling me that 300K or a half-million for a newspaper executive is money well spent, try telling that to a laid off copy editor. How many columns does Galloway do a week, five? Hey, I guess it's good money if you can find it, and from this point forward, you won't with anyone who hasn't already got it. I wonder how much less Reeves and LeBreton, both very, very good, make.

 

[HorseWhipped]

What McClatchy papers are next?
And will any of them get it worse than Fort Worth did?

 

[GuessWho]

What McClatchy papers are next?
And will any of them get it worse than Fort Worth did?

Don't know if it'll be worse, but friends in Kansas City and Raleigh are expecting very bad things, very soon.

 

[reportercletus]

Gary West was the one the DMN laid off the week of the Breeder's Cup in the Metroplex.

Yep, a brilliant move on the DMN's part.
Gary's a good guy and a real pro. I wish him and the rest of those laid off luck.