USA TODAY losing all NBA Reporters

Suits don't sweat. They count.

 

Ha!

 

Bottomline, so to speak: the suits don't give a shit ...

 

Well put. Beat me to it.

 

Let's not put too much emphasis on the "voluntary" aspect of this, either. We have all seen plenty of examples where veteran people are encouraged to apply for buyouts, with not-at-all-subtle hints that their duties, assignments, working conditions, future raises and more will get nastier if they choose to stay.

It's the old, here's your hat, what's your hurry? approach.

Or maybe these vets are being noble and sparing some younger folks the threat of layoffs.

People shouldn't kid themselves that buyouts aren't sad in their own right, and reflect bad times in this business. Sure, layoffs are worse. But buyouts shed good people who came in with passion and, in many cases, had it snuffed by the money-grubbers. People can tell when they're not wanted or valued. There also is much to be said for institutional knowledge and experience.

 

Our place just had massive buyouts. They were hardly "voluntary." Don't take one if they wanted you to and they could have turned you into a janitor or put you in a no-win situation where you'd fail and get fired.

 

Either that or go back to the old days, and suddenly local Gannett papers are being told to cover NBA games.

(I remember the days when the Gannett Patriots' story came from me (Norwich) or a guy from Burlington.) That would be, oh yeah, when USA Today started.

 

The main reasons there even are buyouts these days are:

1. It's all the rage, so papers that don't even need to slash expenses as drastically as others can still do buyouts and hide behind the "state of the industry" defense;

2. They want to shed a bunch of people at once. If they could focus on unloading one or two people at a time, my hunch is they would use the traditional make-them-miserable-enough-to-quit route rather than offer cashouts. Many newspapers through the years have been notoriously chicken(bleep) in managing veteran staffers that way.

The basic strategy of taking a buyout seems to be, get out before they get you.

 

What about me?? [/leeivory]

 

One aspect of buyouts that I think is lost on the suits is that those left behind see talented, experienced colleagues shown the door and realize that will be them in 10 years. It's really brutal trying to try and invest yourself in the product and realize everyone in journalism is just a glorified temp.

 

Glorified?

 

To advise a young person to continue pursuing a career in journalism qualifies as assisted suicide.