'Black Wednesday' in Tampa

Exactly.

I've experienced it myself before in the biz to a different degree as far as when it came time for a promised raise or promotion, but I was lucky enough to fix the situation on my terms both times by moving on to a better situation.

Unfortunately, in this current climate it's becoming more and more difficult to locate a viable parachute, at least within the industry. And while all of this madness has sickened me to no end on a daily basis, when it hit so close to home this time with someone I consider a good friend and an incredible talent, it has struck a sensitive chord inside me.

 

Read some of the intern's other posts and you'll be even more frightened ...

 

Fixed

 

Oh. My. God.
I fear for the future.

 

And people in Washington D.C. don't like oranges as much as people in Florida.

Like duh ... it's common sense.

 

This is actually something I've been thinking about a lot. Was even thinking of starting a thread on it.

What will the future journalist look like, be like and act like? Will there be any rules/boundaries -- anything that you just don't do, or write?

Or will everybody just be talking heads, spouting off, and treating any and all issues as unmoderated public debates, with no editing, no depth and no rules of engagement?

That's how it seems, judging by the lack of restraint, and sheer stupidity, of some of the young posters/bloggers we've seen lately.

It really is scary and we're not liking what we see. Sometimes, I think we're reacting to and protesting that -- both consciously and unconsciously -- as much as we are all the economic changes going on.

Because they are obviously not the only things causing turmoil in this business.

Journalists' entire MO and reason for being seems to be getting turned on its ear. And not in a good way, at all.

 

Some will say everybody spouting off and being talking heads is what got us in trouble in the first place (you know, them damn liberal media... lol)

This is an amazing thread, and I'm amazed at the naivete -- or is it stupidity -- of the intern's blog. If this is the future of journalism, I'll sign up now for clown school.

 

Talk is cheap - reporting is expensive. That's always been a problem for managers without a journalism background. Nobody can properly quantify the value of a seasoned reporter like the ones lost in Tampa. Yet, newspapers' reputations and fortunes were forged on the backs of hard-news reporting. There's no irony lost on the fact that so many "industry leaders" habitually slash staff yet demand more connection with readers. That's the definition of cutting off one's nose to spite the face.

 

Oh, and just to add a little more perspective to how unanticipated this move was when it came to Scott, his wife passed up a promotion that would have allowed them to move back to Tampa because of his position in Tally.

Again, being as these layoffs supposedly were going to be performance based and Scott's most recent evaluation was yet another glowing one, he had no reason to think his head was on the chopping block.

Yep, and this is the management our "lovely and honorable" Jessica is willing to follow down the elevator shaft -- crutches and all.

 

The "lovely and talented's" Twitter link:

http://twitter.com/jdasilva

 

The more I think about this, and now that we see a (probably, I'm not sure) more senior, Olympic writer put onto one of the college beats, the more I think that, perhaps, it didn't have to do with Scott having a veteran's salary, per se.

When such cuts are made, often it is the middle people who get axed, and maybe that goes not just for mid-level managers, as we sometimes hear of, but also mid-level reporters/writers.

Perhaps this had more to do with Carter's actual, official title and classification level.

The company decided to protect those in the higher, more senior classifications, thinking they've earned that right of security.

Given today's need/desire to keep cheaper employees, but still retaining a desire to develop whatever younger talent/potential might be around, it also decided to hold on to younger, lower-classified employees.

So, that left someone who maybe wasn't quite either one of those, either in terms of statuses or salaries, to fall victim, unloading something with not quite the seniority/security of others, but also someone with a higher salary than some.

Seem plausible?

Many subjective variables go into making decisions about cuts, but one objective factor that almost always is a huge contributor is somebody's official status/classification, as well as whether someone is listed, officially, as full- or part-time.

It's the weight given to each of the variables, and how they're balanced in the overall picture of a department, that usually helps make final decisions on who stays and who goes in cutbacks.

If Tallahassee/FSU was considered something that was an outskirt area of coverage for the Tribune, that is probably something that was known/decided, at least in the managers' minds, long ago. Maybe even before, or when, Carter took the job. And even if he or other reporters didn't realize it, or ever think of it as such.

Maybe all of this stuff, and the weights/balances of it as decided by management, coupled with the fact that he had the misfortune to be in Tallahassee when the cuts came about, contributed to his layoff.