Gannett, Gatehouse talking merger

Newport is my old shop, so I saw this posted earlier, and it was a total 'wtf?' to me. The guy in Newport, I like, even though he / the company laid me off. I think it looks way worse for them to claim he's gonna EE both places though, vs. just one of the jobs being open. Newport itself is down to 2.5 news-side reporters, I think.

 

Why do obits cost money anyway? Disgraceful. It was supposed to be news when a person in the community died and the paper came out OK through the sale of ads and subscriptions for that news. I wonder which chain came up with paid obits first. It was a diabolical move, albeit one that did account for some more CEO luxuries. The print newspaper's role in informing people about somebody's death of course is over. Not enough people get the paper to see it.

 

Well my unemployment claim was denied because I don’t have a years worth of W2 forms. Gannett laid me off after 9 months. Before that I was a 1099 in college. I don’t know what else I’m supposed to do .

This sucks.

 

Are your W2 forms not available online or are you locked out of accessing that kind of information?

 

I have only worked a W2 job for nine months because I graduated in May. Prior to that I was working a 1099, running a recruiting website.

I should be able to qualify, technically, because of the impact COVID-19 had on my job, but my state is being a little stingy. Don’t know what I’m going to do—I have payments to make and whatnot.

 

There's no doubt there's an ongoing trend of far less "social" news in the paper (obits, births, wedding announcements). Everything but obits and the occasional anniversary announcement has completely vanished, even though the latter often run for free at smaller papers. Facebook, Instagram, etc., have taken over the role newspapers used to serve.

But the COVID-19 pandemic has reduced the amount of EVERYTHING for newspapers: advertising, obits, pages, subscriptions, readers ... Since I usually lay out the obit page when I work on the desk, I can tell you there's been a dramatic decrease since two months ago, even on Wednesdays and Sundays ("heavy" days for obituaries).

 

You need to pick a lane. Newspapers are idiots for making coronavirus coverage free as a public service, and they are disgraceful for charging for obits.

 

Not at all.

 

I agree. That is Fredrick's often-repeated contention.

 

Death notices aren’t dying off (sorrynotsorry) everywhere. My mom said the Globe had 20 pages this morning.

As for Norwich... I worked with Corky for a year (I was on the newsside). There were some talented people there, including Corky. One of the old UConn guys now covers the state house for the Globe. It was one of Peter Abraham’s early stops, too. It was a slightly dysfunctional newsroom — name one that isn’t — but the paper is now a shell of itself. I think everyone from my time there is gone now that Jim Konrad is out. Even The Day in New London isn’t what it was.

 

Pulling a Greeley, maybe?