gannett plans to layoff 3,000 by december.

I talked to a close friend last night who is a columnist at one of the bigger Gannett papers.

I asked him if he thought he was safe and he said he had been assured that he was. He also said that one of the columnists was told three hours before he was let go that "There is no way they would ever let you go." by the ME.

Three hours!!!

 

I don't know what is worse -- an ME lying to someone's face like that or an ME being so out of the loop on a decision like that.

 

I could see a SE being that out of the loop. Lord knows there are tons of them who try to intentionally stay out of the loop.

I think he just flat-out lied.

 

I could see an SE, but you said ME.

 

Wait, they laid off Harris Siegel? I'd laugh at the sheer stupidity of that if it didn't mean someone was losing his job.

Just shut down the damn paper.

 

It was the ME.

 

Could be just a glitch -- unless Mizzou had access to a small nuclear device.

 

Self-delete. Just changed formats... sorry.

 

I hope it's not and they screwed up by firing the wrong people and now nobody can use the web.

 

The Times-Union is a much better paper now than it was when I started bashing it six or seven years ago...

Anyway, this is a Gannett thread, not a Morris thread.

 

Scott Pitoniak let go in Rochester, a pro's pro, the voice of that area's sports discussion, and one of the all-time nice people in the business. Just horrible. Absolutely horrible. I can't understand how this could appear to be a good business decision.

 

No "decisions" are being made. They're not looking at names. They're not considering whether the person is the best person on staff or the worst person on staff. They're not taking into consideration if that person's job can be done by someone else.

They're looking at salaries and then cutting the highest ones. Period.