Orlando Sentinel, other Tribune papers abandoning their offices

Working remotely, indefinitely.

Orlando Sentinel to leave downtown office building after 69 years

imagine if they hadn’t sold all this commercial real estate before it became essentially worthless.

 

This figures to be a popular trend in the news business and many others. As soon as it worked remotely, it became a viable option.

 

Orlando Sentinel reporters on Twitter are optimistic they'll get SOME kind of office space after the pandemic. My message to them: Don't count on it. The suits are pocketing the savings from the real estate and won't be looking to invest in office space any time soon. Their thinking, "why pay for space when everyone can work from home?"

 

Am suspecting they’ll be able to get some use of a co-working space for limited days/times for the occasional in-person meeting, but yeah, I think the newsroom as they know it is forever a thing of the past.

 

Per the Reliable Sources newsletters, one of the papers losing its newsroom is in Annapolis.

The Capital Gazette. Think about it. If there was ever a paper that needed its newsroom back, it's the Capital Gazette.

 

This is a smart move by management. Separate the office gossipers and malcontents and weaken the collective power of the employees. I'm not praising the execs but I see how it fosters their objective to weaken dissent and sell off buildings in order to generate their profits.

 

I would have done cartwheels to work from home when I was in newspapers a decade ago. You avoid the coworker who wants to talk your ear off about bullshit all day, the editor who seems to always be looking over your shoulder, the coworker who always seems to have drama. All of it.

 

And the co-worker with kids who gets you sick because of their little germ factories at home.

Yes, I have kids.

 

The news editor that thinks every dispatch of a fire truck should send a reporter running, rather than listening to see what the firefighters say upon arrival.