Well, The State is laying off 12 more journalists. I have three names that I’ve heard from several sources (and which you can find on blogs with lower verification standards), but the only one I can confirm yet is my friend Megan Sexton, who has announced it on her Facebook page.
I learned about it from the local FoxNews channel, because they wanted to interview me about it.
I’ve been asked what the future of newspapers might be many times in the past year, and each time, I’ve told the asker that they hadn’t touched bottom yet, so expect more of the same. And here you have it. I’d certainly rather have been wrong.
This is happening in spite of the much touted financial “recovery” of the industry, with a sharp recent increase in the stock price. You may find this to be a contradiction, and I could go on and on about how that doesn’t affect the budget targets that each newspaper must still hit, yadda-yadda, but it’s not that complicated. As newspapers jettison more and more of what once gave them value, Wall Street likes them more. Go figure.
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Another name being Paul Strelow…
Thanks, David. I had not heard his name.
Part of the difficulty in compiling a full list (apart from The State’s usual reluctance to come forward with such details — when I was among 40-odd being canned last year, I was the only one named in the initial report, and only the two other vice presidents were named subsequently, and then Robert a few days later), there is the fact that some have been given a choice of some kind, so the list is as yet incomplete.
Two names I CAN pass on now, because I have enough sources, are the business editor, Sara Svedberg Homewood, and the photo assignments editor, Chuck Dye…
Do you know if there is any real plan at The State for growing the business or are people just resigned to the fact that the writing is on the wall?
What I find depressing is that the only solution that seems apparent to the management is cutting the workforce. Why not do some radical changes and see what happens? Go out in a blaze of glory instead of petering out.
Call for Spurrier to be fired. Do some massive exposes on government fraud. Put the lead editorial on the front page. Stop printing letters to the editor.
I was in Detroit on Monday and picked up a copy of the Detroit Free Press at the airport. The paper was nearly as thin as the Blythewood Chronicle and pretty much was filled with gloom, despair, and hopelessness. It had only two sections: Front section with news, second section with sports and ads.
wow brad. thanks for the update. Sara is a sharp person. She will land on her feet quickly (if she hasnt already).
Ironically, I just received an unrelated e-mail from a former WIS staffer who got the David Stanton treatment (“too experienced, paid too much”), which come to think of it, is exactly what happened to me, and Robert, and so many others now. It was headlined “unemployed media greetings”…
I like the internet, blogging, Facebook and the rest, but I know how valuable our daily Newspapers are. Best wishes to those going into the job market.
This is just another sad commentary on the times in which we live. It’s another loss for journalism as more talented people hit the beach. I wish them all well and truly hope they can land on their feet.
On a brighter note, I can report hearing from Bill Robinson this morning. He’s doing well and may even have an advancement possibility in Maryland; good luck Robo.
And “The State” will become even more irrelevent.
Thom, you must have known Bill back during his Cosmic Ha-Ha days, as did I. Later, he instructed us all to stop calling him “Robo.” We obeyed, because he was pretty insistent about it.
It’s great to hear he’s doing well. For those of you who don’t remember, Bill was one of the voluntary buyouts from 2008 — after about a quarter-century at the paper.
Just got interviewed about this by WACH-FOX. It’ll be on the news tonight…
OK, I have the seven known names from two or more sources now. They are:
Megan Sexton
Joette Riehle
Chuck Dye
Paul Strelow
Steve Wiseman
Chip Oglesby
Sara Svedberg
My understanding is that the other five are expected to step forward and take buyouts voluntarily. If five don’t come forward, I suppose they’ll be “volunteered” in the Army way.
With Joette, Chuck and Sara you have three very key people whom YOU probably wouldn’t know, but who play important managerial roles in the newsroom, as you might be able to tell from this list — Sara as business editor, Chuck as photo assignments editor and Executive News Editor Joette as the boss of the copy desk, pretty much the editor in charge of the paper late at night. That’s a job with which I am well familiar, as I did the same thing at the Wichita paper back in the mid-80s.
Megan as you know is a senior writer (and former editor herself). Paul Strelow and Steve Wiseman work in sports. Chip Oglesby was an online guy last I knew.
Remind me why I subscribe?
I know you aren’t such a fan of the Home and other “women’s page” features, but I used to read the paper only for them. The local angle–what to plant when, where to buy locally, etc. is being dribbled across the weekday features–along with such jewels as today’s “How to dress your girls for skiing” –so relevant to all of us here in Columbia.
The Shop Tart just needs to add a gardening component, and she will have cornered the market on locally relevant features reporting.
I can read Warren and Cindi’s editorials online and skip the vitriolic/misguided/PR letters and Op-eds. Reading the letters, in particular, tends to just get me down. What’s left? A handful of news articles, maybe.