gannett plans to layoff 3,000 by december.

That's a name I hoped never to see -- but sadly, expected -- on this thread. I knew he was worried. (With good reason, as it turned out.)

Scott, you deserved so much better than this. F$^@ you, Gannett.

 

It's only a "good business decision" if your goal is to completely change the way you've been doing business. That's the only context by which any of this makes sense, if you view these waves of layoffs as part of a broader goal of gradually, systematically reducing full-time staffs to the lowest sustainable levels possible.

I believe that if you could catch Gannett's decision makers in a moment of surprising candor, they'd tell you the end game here is to reduce each newsroom to a handful of assigning editors and absolutely essential beats (the bigger the city, the more of these there will be). Doing it all at once would be too extreme, even for them. So the only way to do it is in waves, meant to maintain some level of stability with the stock price over the course of the attrition.

In some markets, there may be no more than an education and a local government beat writer left, along with a GA. In larger markets, they'll keep the major sports beats, combining them when feasible (i.e., the NHL beat writer might double as the MLB one), along with whatever they feel the readership will demand, along with a minimal number of GA writers. The rest will be handled by a group of stringers, made up largely of former newspaper writers, many laid off from that paper's staff. They'll be paid reasonably well because the paper has so significantly reduced its full-time staff and the inherent costs that go along with that.

 

I second everything that's been said about Scott Pitoniak. One of the best, nicest people I've met in this business. A few years ago, I was working at a small shop and would cross paths with him at games here and there. He always treated me like a peer, not some punk kid.

That truly sucks.

All the best, Scott. You deserve better.

 

Scott will come through this just fine because he's smart and level-headed. Based on the loss of him and the 47 others these last two days, however, the paper has assured itself of remaining the worst major daily in all of Upstate New York for a good many years to come.

Thank God I get to read The Buffalo News instead.

 

That is definitely not the way they did it at my shop.

 

The blog said another 5 percent will be gone by February.

 

At two of the papers where there were cuts yesterday the two jobs cut were the two highest-paid non-managers in sports.

That's not a coincidence.

 

I say this without irony or to be flip, but this has to be the saddest thread I've ever read on SJ.

 

Tough to argue with this.

 

It's going to get worse over the next several hours, too. I'm burning vacation days right now (at a time that is most convenient for my Gannett bosses, of course, but not for me), but all I can do is sit at the computer and wait and watch. Indefinite vacation?

 

I've known Scott for a long time and you will never come across a nicer guy or better writer. I am stunned.
I've been avoiding the journalism threads on this board for the last month, but when I heard about the Gannett cuts, I decided to see what was going on.
I wish I hadn't.
God bless all of you at Gannett.

 

Is there a formula being used for this mass extermination of talent at Gannett?