More Gannett cuts

TW, I heard Jackson lost 10 in the news room, including Joe Powell, longtime sports desker. Shown the door after 27 years. Man, oh man.

Actually, Jackson lost 10 overall, four from the newsroom. Joe Powell, a copy editor who started here in 1983 and had 38 years total in the business, was let go. We have now lost two sports copy editors (Mike Christensen was laid off in November) and a high school writer (Todd Kelly left in December and wasn't replace) in the last 7 months. And the Ole Miss job is open.

 

To paraphrase Lisa Simpson:

Quality is dead - it was acquired in a hostile takeover by Gannett and CNHI, homogenized, and sold off piece by piece

 

Sign me up for box seats if someone files an age discrimination suit.

 

The Jackson State opening was cut?

 

How many sports editors were let go in total?

I'm a little surprised at that number, which appears to be quite high. Nothing else, unfortunately, shocks me.

 

That's terrible news about Joe. If dependability were a two-way street, Joe would have had a job forever.

Hang in there, Rusty.

 

While I'm with you that nothing really should be shocking, I was more surprised to see the likes of Keeler and Borden go. Those are two fine columnists who worked their asses off and were producing far more than the requisite game columns. In addition, they were brands to their readerships. Those are the kind of cuts that the readership really notices, even more than beat reporters, assignment editors and copy editors (such as myself).

 

If I'm not mistaken, it was Joe's departure in Charleston, S.C., that created the opening for the first job I got out of college . . . 28 years ago next month.

 

Westchester had that happen in '09, and yes, it was a charade. The company people doing the interviewing were just typing answers into a computer. Any answer that didn't fit their preconceived question made their heads spin.

Utterly shameful.

 

This is something all of the papers have been very aware of since Day One. That's why the first couple rounds of buyouts were all pretty lucrative and they all had requirements that writers are a certain age or have been there a certain amount of time.

The result is that the first non-management people to go are usually in their 30s or 40s. In the area where I was when I was let go, 55 newsroom people were shown the door. 51 of them were in their 30s or 40s, one guy was 51 and the other three were managers.

They're scared of anyone over 55. If you're under 30, you're probably not making enough $$$ to make a difference if they cut you.

 

Gannett is journalism at its best.




lol