'Black Wednesday' in Tampa

Being as I'm already going to be having nightmares over this whole scenario, I think I'm going to turn away from this thread for a few days so I can pretend with some sort of believability that I am enjoying myself on the Fourth of July with my wife and son and his friends.

Thank goodness he's only 4 and has no clue just how bad things are getting not only in our industry but around the country with all of the other problems going on.

 

From what I understand Tampa is a Gator town --- is that right? I'm not familiar enough with the area to know for sure. So it appears they decided to keep, or re-introduce, a UF beat writer for the paper while ignoring the rivals up in Tallahassee?

That should make for an interesting fall. Florida gets its own professional beat writer. Florida State gets a couple of college kids.

 

Tampa is way more a Gators town, though the Seminoles fans were coming out the yin yang in '99.

 

The Tribune has never given a hoot about Florida State. And they don't usually try to hide it.

I remember telling Scott in the fall, "Hey man, why are you working so hard? I think they'd be fine if you'd just turn in an advance and a gamer."

But here he was this week -- in the middle of the freakin' summer -- positing blogs like every day. I can guarantee you that it wasn't because the home office demanded it ... he did it because he was doing his job as a pro.

Unfortunately, the Tribune didn't reciprocate.

 

I've heard the name ... wow.

 

A place is laying off a perfectly qualified, well-respected member of its staff, then turning around and adding a body, thumbing its nose at the criteria (geographic) that it hid behind when shedding the first person?

A thousand nights in Cell Block D, please, for those bosses. And not a tube of lube in sight.

 

this thread makes me sick to my stomach to be in this industry and proud as hell to be in this industry because of people like scott carter and andy staples

 

You didn't really believe it was because of geographical reasons, did you?

That might have been believable and true if it were happening to a whole bureau/office there, but Scott Carter was just one guy, apparently a high-quality guy who most of us would think they should/would keep if the paper had to pick and choose.

Well, maybe they picked and chose the wrong person. But, more likely, they saw a veteran guy, a veteran guy who they'd decided they could/would put on a beat out in a place they considered an outskirt of their coverage area.

This was a targeted layoff.

Scott Carter and probably, his salary, were the targets. Not the "area," or even, just the beat, either.

Otherwise, and if they'd really wanted to keep Carter, they could have/would have found a different beat, and/or some other place for him.

 

Please don't tell us it's Jessica DaSilva.

 

Wendell Barnhouse gives Jessica some advice on her blog:

WENDELL BARNHOUSE
I hope that Mindy McAdams takes note that I am posting under my real name. And I dearly hope that McAdams and others like her at Media General and the Tampa Tribune are soon on a street corner with signs reading “Will Manage (Poorly) For Food.”
To the “lovely and talented” Jessica DaSilva:
When I was “intern age” I certainly believed I knew everything about journalism and newspapers. Thank God I didn’t have a blog on which to post. Some newsroom veteran would have killed me with a pica pole (Google to find out what that is).
Your enthusiastic blog should have taught you a few lessons:
1. Unlike your private diary/thoughts, what you blog or post on Al Gore’s invention is there for the world to see and read.
2. Writing on blogs need to be filtered. Think before you write. Read before you post. If you haven’t rewritten most of your post before it’s posted, you’re headed for trouble.
3. That’s what editors do. They just dont’ change “layed” to “laid.” They ask questsions like, “Is this what you mean to say?” “This is not clear; can you tell me what you’re trying to say?” “Are you sure this is what you were aiming for?”
I’m a 36-year veteran of newspapers who recently left the business. It is dying if not already dead. Your editing hero is rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. And “hyper local” translates to “hyper cheap.” The Tampa Tribuine’s investigative group will wind up getting one good-sized story a year and a lot of nickel and dime gotcha stories that will do more harm than good.
One last interesting thing about the Internet. You find all sorts of things everywhere. You quoted your Editor Hero: “We can see a better future for journalism right across the bridge on the other side, but the bridge is on fire, and if we just stand here, we are going to burn up with it.”
A McClatchy veep in charge of news coverage used the same analogy and wording on his web site. Turns out your hero is a plagarist. Too bad she doesn’t understand about attributing the source of her pithy analogy.

 

Wendell kicks ass ...

 

That "lovely and talented" struck me too... Hey toots, if you want to be taken seriously, you'll forget the "lovely and talented" crapola quick so people don;t call you toots.
Ask your mentor how professional that is,...