gannett plans to layoff 3,000 by december.

It would be awesome, but you just know that if something like this was organized, just enough people would chicken out at the last minute and the paper would still be able to put out a product. And the ones that skipped work that day would forever have a black mark.

Of course, what is there to lose? A job you might not have in six months?

 

Hell, I did it Sept. 3. I thought you guys were right behind me ...

 

Right now, anyone whose weekly salary is in four figures already has a demerit.

So do those over age 50, maybe over age 40.

Folks who question the need to write for print, write for Web, blog, podcast, do video and Twitter -- all in each eight-hour work day -- have demerits, too.

So does anyone who has been caught frowning while reading the publisher's latest memo about doing more with less.

So what's another freaking demerit for, as StaggerLee says, a job that won't be around (or at least yours) in six months anyway?

Count me in. And yes, Nov. 4 would be a good day. Because starting Nov. 5, a lot of these newsrooms will needs a lot fewer of us to carry the downsized water.

 

so, so solid, it's sick.

 

I didn't get the memo, JD. If I had, I'd have been right there with you, pal.

 

I know people have familes and themselves to look out for, and I'd rather walk out a door with 10 weeks pay than nothing, but really, there would be something so liberating of just walking away, taking control of your own situation instead of relying on the knuckleheads who have brought the industry to this unfortunate place. Make no mistake, if it isn't this time, there will be a next time. And a time after that. More friends and valued colleagues will leave. You get through this round of cuts and look at where you are likely to be in six months or a year. Imagine a "best case scenario." We deserve better.

 

Note: Last one out the door leave the lights ON.

Have to make the suits have to pay for something, right? 8)

 

Been there, done that.

I've pieced together some part-time work, a little freelancing and revenue from running some web sites. It's not adding up to anything close to what I used to make, but I'm paying my bills just fine and literally saved my sanity by leaving Gannett.

I can't recommend jumping in the midst of a recession, but I will say here what I've been telling the prisoners I left behind: There is life beyond Gann-nyet.

 

I'd love to just walk away, but I know that I can't. I'm in my mid-30s with a wife, two kids (one in private school, the other in daycare) and a mortgage. I'd love to actually go back to school and do something in architecture, but I know we can't afford it.

And here's the other thing. I'm scared to death to start over again. I've been doing this for 13 years now and I've worked my ass off to get to where I'm somewhat respected and I feel I do a decent job. The thought of dropping all of that knowledge, all of that experience and going back to ground zero terrifies the hell out of me.

And what's sad is that Gannett knows it. Gannett knows they have their employees by the short and curlies and their memos citing the economic hardships facing Americans just reiterate that fact. It's a scare tactic to keep telling your employees that "things are tough all over" and what it does is it makes the ones that survive the cuts even more grateful they're still employed - even though they're miserable.

I'm at the point where I'm torn in so many different directions. I'm an old-school journalist and I want to believe newspapers will survive. But I'm also a realist and I know that if I don't come up with a plan, my family could be facing some pretty tough times.

 

Journalism will survive. Dead-tree journalism ... not so much.

 

continue to grasp at your loose definition of the word journalism. yes, there is true journalism on the web, but not so much in comparison to all the shit floating at the top of the bowl.

 

guys: i'd like to leave this thread to the folks from gannett who'll be losing their jobs. i started another thread to discuss exit strategy if anyone is interested.