Terrible newspaper firings/layoffs

I have a friend of mine who was having issues with his paper and then called me up one day to tell me another friend of his had congratulated him on finding a new job. My friend emailed back and said he hadn't found one, and asked him what had made him think he had a new job. His friend sent him the job listing for the job my friend was already at.

 

When my paper started layoffs five years ago, the 60-year-old woman whose cancer had just returned got sacked in the very first round. "Sorry, no job, and no more health insurance. Hey, good luck with your cancer!"

That brought it all home for me.

 

A veteran photographer walked into the editor's office this summer and this transpired:

"Close the door behind you."

(closed)

"Here's your severance package."

"That's it?"

"Yes."


This was a guy who had worked faithfully and with great pride for the company for at least 15 years and was respected by the staff. He wasn't the only staffer to be treated this way. Changes in the industry suck but there could be at least some semblance of compassion from management.

 

Journalists make lousy managers, for the most part. That's a huge generalization, but the stories back it up. How many good managers have you had?

 

way to kill my thread, asshole. ;D

 

I'm a cancer that way.

 

Daz sew fuctup, dewd. Good luck.

 

Only the ones who were actual journalists who didn't forget where they came from.

 

Truth be told, most people make for lousy managers. That's why the good ones are gold.

As for worst layoff story ... a guy at one former stop was let go about six weeks after moving 1,000 miles for a reporting gig.

 

how bad was he, wicked?

 

I interviewed for a job at a weekly once, the editor showed me around, told me she was the third editor in two years, but she thought the publisher liked her - and then she told me not to mention the sports job she was also considering me for (though I didn't apply for a sports job) when she introduced me to the others on staff (including the current sports guy).
She offered me the job I applied for (covering county government and general news) but I declined and went back to my part-time gig at the daily I was at and ended up finishing my degree.
I'd already been through a bad situation and didn't want another one. Besides, what would I think when she brought someone else around who was interviewing for a job?

 

The editor-in-chief at my current shop was a good one. Tough when he had to be but very approachable. Knew his journalistic stuff and wasn't above sitting down and laying out a page or two when the need arised on a couple of occasions. He started the day before I did at the paper, and supposedly replaced an EIC who was a real prick. The people there longer than me said morale was way up after this guy was on the job.

Flash forward almost nine years later. Last December, he and the publisher announced times were tough and we would proabably have to take furloughs in 2012. We waited to see how many we would have to take as management said it was still trying to figure it out. Then the publisher asked for suggestions on how to cut costs. Then in March, we found out furloughs wouldn't be necessary -- they sacked the EIC instead, and spread out his duties among the rest of the editors.