More from Lean Dean

Fucking hell.

That sucks.

 

There is no curse in the tongues of Men, Elves or Entish to describe this treachery . . . the continued effects of corporate ownership's audacity (of hoping for more profits) persist in breaking the hearts of those of us who once believed in the glory of newspapers.

Good luck to all at the LA Daily News and the LANG group.

I always thought that if the hammer had to come down, the flagship would get hit last, with the others getting it first. I hope those papers are already so short staffed that people keep their jobs. Crappy "glass is half full, yet almost empty" way of looking at it, I know.

 

What he said.

Hope you dodge the bullet, RPM. Knowing you, I see no reason why you shouldn't.

Then again, there is no reason for this.

 

A lot of good journalists, a lot of good people are going to lose their jobs in a couple of days. I’m probably one of them. But I’m not angry, not bitter. I am just sad. Sad that this is happening. I have no idea how many people are going to lose their jobs, whether it will be painful, who gets spared and why. I know someone made the comment that it’s amazing we’ve been getting a paper out every night. I know I spent 14 hours at a race track Sunday waiting for a NASCAR race to happen. I know there was a guy sitting in the stands in the rain watching the same race who picked up a newspaper the next morning to find out what happened. Why didn’t they restart the race, what time will it resume, what happens to the cars that wrecked the day before? People have questions. Newspapers have answers. Only I have no answer, no explanation for what is happening to my newspaper. All I know is that it is getting worse by the day. It doesn’t make enough money. It’s not profitable. It has no value. That’s what we keep hearing. That’s what the people who run the newspaper have to say about it. I’ve been around long enough to know there are better ways to measure profit and value than with dollar signs. The newspaper I worked for had value at one point. It wasn’t measured with profit, well it wasn’t the only measurement of its success. I know I could come to work most days and laugh and cry and rant and teach. I know there are few places in the world where this kind of behavior is accepted, encouraged in fact. I know it’s a healthy place to be, and a frustrating place. I know the people I work with treat their job as a duty, a responsibility, with more pride and courage than most. But I know I don’t see my kids at night, don’t get to read them stories every night, give them baths every night, watch cartoons with them every night. I don’t get to see my wife as much as I would like, see my friends as often as I should. That’s the sacrifice every journalist makes. It’s the reason I am sad. When a person becomes a journalist, it never turns off. There’s always a story to tell. There are always questions. There are always answers. Except now. There was a time when I thought there would always be a need for journalists. But now, I don’t know. I don’t think any of us do.

 

Seems like the only pieces that are getting sliced in the West Coast shops. Hopefully Lean Dean leaves the other side of the country alone.

 

Great post, friend.

 

I'll echo Angola. And good luck in your future.

 

He's largely left The Detroit News alone, IIRC. I'd be scared if I were there.

 

30 layoffs perhaps in the entire newsroom? All at the DN? Mind-boggling. I hope we're not talking about the DN in terms of the Herald Examiner in a couple of months. But then again, this is Lean Dean. It's what he does.

 

We did a head count last night. There are fewer than 100 people in the newsroom every day. Include reporters and photogs who are out covering stories, and there are about 150 staff members in editorial. 30 layoffs would be 20 percent, which seems to be consistent with what's happening at other Singleton papers.

 

just ... wow.

 

Christ. You have our sympathies on this board. Hang in there and good luck.