Buyouts in Newport News

How about waiting until mid-June, when as many as 25 people are gone, before you put it behind you? And nothing grows a company like eliminating 19 to 25 jobs.

 

It also seems they're getting out of covering the Redskins as well. Apparently the 'Skins are huge in that part of the world, so that doesn't benefit the readers, either.

 

Ha!

 

"You'll get nothing and like it!" - the business plan of the newspaper industry.

 

Someone was talking abotu the regional copy desks and whatnot -- that is coming quicker than we think.

Soon there will be one copy desk in Topeka Kansas and every paper will send their copy there and every city will have like four reporters who just cover the city.......


Oh wait a minute, that's called the Associated Press.

Is it too late to try barber school?

 

no

 

Damn. I have a very good friend there. Thanks for the thread.

 

What a shame. This place has one solid sports staff from top to bottom. Sad to see.

 

You'd rather not see it, but buyouts beat layoffs every day and thrice on Sunday. Here's hoping enough people on the verge of retiring can cash in and at the same time save some jobs.

As for Redskins coverage, I'm torn. On the one hand, that area loves their Skins. On the other hand, if they can't hit the beat at full power, is it worth having at all? It'd be more logical if they were owned by a group that already had a Skins writer, but they aren't. But they're also not going to be competitive on that beat and give their readers anything more than they can get from the wires if they're not on the road; eight home games does not an NFL beat make for a paper of that size.

 

OK, to save $1,000,000.00, they intend to cut 25 people. (When cuts are announced, they always -- ALWAYS -- cut the number cited at the top end of the range.)

$1 million divided by 25 = $40,000 per person.

Not knowing the wage scale at NN, I would certainly hope that the average compensation package (wages plus benefits/insurance) for 10-year employees averages $40,000 per person.

In other words, they intend to get every single last goddamn red cent of this $1,000,000.00 (One Million and 00/100 Dollars) right out of the hides of their employees.

That's some creative financial thinking there, you betcha.

 

I covered a couple pro beats that didn't entail road coverage. It's frustrating for the reporter, probably for readers, too, to some extent. But it is very much better than wires. No knock on AP, but you don't control how they cover the beat. Also, I believe that when you cover more than the minimum it sends a message to readers that you want to give them the best coverage you can afford. It's like if you walk into a restaurant and you see some unrecognizable ketchup bottles on the table instead of Heinz, I think if they're gonna cut corners on something like that, God know what they are doing in the kitchen, God knows where they bought that chicken, I'm eating across the street instead.