gannett plans to layoff 3,000 by december.

More concise -- or Gannettized -- version for those in a hurry.

 

Not surprising for anyone who worked for them.

What I don't get is how they can withdraw a deposit into your account? I doubt anyone would let me withdraw my car insurance payment.

 

It was probably shown as a deposit, but the "check" that was deposited was canceled before it cleared from the original bank.

 

Well played.

 

Some of us may have actually covered union strikes or lockouts where management tried to get by with "scabs" to keep the businesses running. Maybe you are old enough to recall the NFL replacement player games in 1987 or the baseball replacement players in 1994.

Maybe that's where this is headed. People don't give the profession enough respect. "Oh, yeah,anyone can do THAT. Sign me up.I'll be a 'citizen journalist'. " Same thing happened with the teacher's strike. Well, of course, you get what you pay for. And if these rags go out of business, I am really not feeling sorry for them. For the working men and women? Heck, yes, a thousand times yes. For the corporate suits? Not a moment.

 

What's sad is that the managers can always find a business/industry where their only responsibility is make sure expenses are always a shade below income to keep the head office happy. Not much skill in that.

 

woah Mark ... slow down ... maybe some of us are old enough to remember something that happened in 1994? ... if those are the olden days, then gosh darnit, I need the bottle of geritol ... that is just 14-plus years ago ... since I haven't met any 21-year-old sportswriters lately (awwww, that's right, even 31-year-olds with duplicate APSEs can't get hired in today's climate) I have trouble accepting that's the standard for the memory bank ... you also have to be pretty green behind the ears (is that lettuce or alfalfa there, Mr. Phone Clerk at the suburban rag?) to not remember something that occurred in 1987 ... oh my, next thing you know, you'll tell me you don't remember life before ESPN.

 

What if I'm not old enough to remember life before ESPN, but I can remember when ESPN showed things like Aussie Rules Football?

 

Huh? There are a LOT of 21-year-old sportswriters out there. No offence. I've worked with people who didn't even know WHO Richard Nixon was, and weren't born the day Ronald Reagan was shot.

Yeah, I actually DO remember life before ESPN. I remember when there were only 3 networks and "Monday Night Football" was an actual event people cared about that didn't require 12 hours of pre-game hype. I remember when the NBA Finals were on tape-delay and the Olympics were on a day-old tape delay.

When watching ESPN on weekday afternoons meant pro tennis from Europe, Australian Rules football or skiing, instead of 5 hours of "First Take", "Rome is Burning" and "Around the Horn" rehashing the latest Donovan McNabb benching and wondering if the sky was falling or if the sun would come up tomorrow. When sportscenter actually included highlights of things besides the stuff ESPN aired. When Sports Illustrated had fascinating features on not only people, but places and things most of us will never get to witness first-hand (like the Iditarod or sports camps in the old Soviet Union).

Aw, hell, just call me an Old Fart if you must.

 

ESPN was great back in the days when it showed Aussie Rules and the USFL. Now I have Setanta for my footy fix.

 

The 1987 strike (which I covered) was the beginning of the end of the Rams as a viable franchise and as one that would stay in Southern California. The thought that just anyone, be it a kicker or citizen journalist, can be plugged into a professional environment is insulting. Yes, managing free-lancers is a part of the gig, but if the core product is produced (and lightly edited, if at all) by people with a minimal, and less-trained, stake in the outcome, that's not going to work even in the short term.

 

I'm waiting for citizen surgeons myself.