'Black Wednesday' in Tampa

No that was my poor attempt at sarcasm.

 

Here's where someone could make a case for user generated content to turn the paper around.

 

I'm sorry to hear if it is Scott, he is a solid reporter and a good friend. Will he land on his feet? I have no doubt.

I went through this mess last year and the day I was laid off (Somebody on this board said I was fired, um no.) I said to everyone I was glad it was me and not any of them. Now, I'm sorry to hear about Scott. I hope to give him a call tonight and let him know things will be OK.

I was Scott's team leader for a short time after my seven years in the position and I enjoyed his writing, reporting, news judgement and everything journalistically.

If Scott is reading this, don't look down but celebrate the freedom with a Partagas or an Arturo Fuente.

Is there any one of my former coworkers in Tampa I want seen laid off? Hell (blinking) no.

 

Remember when the worst thing that could happen to a writer in this business was to get called in and told that you were being taken off a beat that you enjoyed? That it was going to be handled now by someone else and you were going to get some lame-ass role that made you question your career choice and college major?

Now you can be doing a swell job, but you still can get called in and told that, gee, sorry, you don't work here anymore. Them's the breaks, there's debt to be serviced, it's happening all over, what makes you think you're any different and, what the heck, better you than me.

Oh, for the good ol' days of an occasional mean-spirited or wrong-headed demotion.

Now you're more likely to suffer that if you don't take their hints and exit via "voluntary separation."

 

way to go!

 

Just seeing this thread and want to throw up. Scott's a great guy and has done a very good job on the FSU beat. Not to mention that his wife gave birth to their first child this past year ... great timing. This whole thing is just disgusting.

And Moddy, you have the relationship between Scott and Staples correct.

 

As soon as I saw the "Black Wednesday" title of this thread earlier today I had an uneasy feeling, even though the last time I had spoken with my good friend Scott Carter shortly after the first round of cuts at the Trib he felt pretty secure.

Still, when Moddy typed out his name among the casualties, it felt like someone blindsided me with a very large frying pan.

I've been lurking around this board keeping silent for over a year and absorbing each and every thread announcing more and more layoffs at different papers with almost the same sense of dread as I once read sad story after sad story about the Hurricane Katrina victims of the 9/11 victims because the bad news just keeps coming at you from all sides.

Now in no way am I trying to equate those tragedies with what we are experiencing in our industry, but when you are as close to the carnage as we are, it hurts pretty bad. I knew sooner or later I would come across a name that hit really close to home, and this one did because I have known Scott for almost 15 years. I also have no doubt he is more than talented enough to land on his feet, but it doesn't diminish the fact that the timing of this sucks and the way it was handled was shittier than the way the Mets handled the firing of Willie Randolph.

I don't know how some of these bastards (aka bean counters and upper management) can look at themselves in the mirror.

And with that, I'll end my rant. I'm just glad I was able to leave newspapers on my own terms and have been able to thrive as my own boss while still being able to what I love.

 

I don't know Scott Carter but it's pretty obvious what happened to him is usually preceded by dinner and a movie.
I don't want to agree with MizzouGrad, but I will take Lyman Bostock to task on his comment about Scott Carter landing on his feet (which I hope he will).
If you want to stay in the newspaper business, how in the hell can you land on your feet? The last three weeks there have been nearly 3,000 layoffs in the industry because jobs/positions have been eliminated. It's a damn shame when talented people are getting dismissed and have limited to zero options.