Most voters to the latest question, "Do you think the DMN will be notified of layoffs this week," think Oct. 17 may hold as a day of both announcements and departures. Providence had received two weeks' notice, which if the same method were used here would suggest news by Friday. The final results:
22 votes (44%): No way. My bet is Oct. 17. We will get notice and depart on same day. Think 2004
19 votes (38%): Maybe. I have heard so little anything seems possible at this point:
8 votes (16%): Definitely. We will get two weeks notice like Providence. That fits in with the Oct. 17 completion target
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9 comments:
Enough with the polls, please. They are, frankly, silly. You have done some good work. Don't trivialize it. It's okay if there is no real news to pass on.
The polls don't trivialize anything. They can't. They're just ... polls.
I like the polls.
Guess this explains the popularity of disco.
FYI:
News Management group met for lunch on Wednesday to discuss layoff plans. AMEs for Local News spent a bunch of time across Young Street on Thursday followed by closed-door meetings with department heads. Somber is one way to describe the looks of those who emerged from one meeting. Word is that corporate has ordered cuts deeper than news managers expected. Those third quarter numbers must have come in. Is tomorrow Friday?
More FYI:
Romenesko site reports that Steven A. Smith, editor of the Spokane Spokesman Review, resigned. His comments are interesting. Among them: "“It is time to stop standing behind our salaries, our bonuses and our pensions and stand up and say what needs to be said”—that short-term thinking and cutbacks are “dooming our organizations to irrelevance and causing irreparable harm to our systems and society without consideration of the larger loss."
The paper's AME, Carla Savali, also resigned. She was considered the heir-apparent to Smith.
Not to worry, though. DMN bosses are too loyal to the staff to bail in such a pointless gesture.
Keep the info coming.
Ok, since you asked....
The news management group meeting on Wednesday was to discuss cuts in operating funds. In addition to the loss of staff through layoffs/buyouts, there will also be reductions in money available for travel, supplies, etc.
Oh yeah. Managers have been told to expect to lose another 20 staffers through attrition over the next few months.
Newsroom math is a tricky thing, but depending on how one counts, this could bring the staff by next year to under 300 - less than half of what it was in fall 2004 before the layoff.
When asked a while back how much staff he would need to run a web operation only, the managing editor said 200.
Layoffs means never having to say you're sorry at the DMN.
I think most of us understand that the polls are just a comic break in the demoralizing drama we're facing. So I'd just ask the first poster to lighten up and let the rest of us enjoy them.
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