The latest blow came today when copy editors, designers and other support staff got the news that they could either:
- Accept a buyout that will amount to something like two weeks' pay for every year of employment (for those with over five year's services;) or
- Move to offices in Kalamazoo or Grand Rapids, where those tasks will be consolidated for among the News' seven sibling papers.
We have a lot of good friends at the News. Hang in there, folks. You deserve better.
3 comments:
I worked in the "print" business for 12 years. The changes that occur or have occurred there ever since the invention of the microcomputer have been astounding.
The cold hard fact is that people just don't read the "physical" newspaper as much as they used to.
I don't know what it fair severance, but I hope all those affected do ok.
The company I worked for gave notice to 300 people a couple of weeks ago. They got nothing other than their vacation and 2 weeks - regardless of how long they had been there.
Ed was behind the endorsement of one George W. Bush was he not? I see those policies are working out well for him. The trashing of the media to a point, in my opinion a wanted point, that nobody should pay attention to the news anymore. It's ALL bad for you. Listen to your leaders who make PSA's for themselves and pass it along as news and stations run these canned pieces of crap AS news.
Call me out there but I wouldn't mind seeing some heads on sticks for what they just did; an eight year long five trillion dollar giveaway with a 700 billion bailout cherry on top at the end. Just to companies, none accountable to you. They hide behind laws they pay to have made, like binding arbitration when you buy anything of value. The bailout--no asking questions, no accountability. Same with energy policy. So thanks, Ed, for your endorsement of Chimpy McFlightsuit.
Glimmertwinfan, I agree with you, but only to a point. Sure, daily journalism has suffered greatly in the wake of the digital revolution.
But let's not let the leadership of The News off too easy, either. The myopic editorial direction of the current leadership (20 years now) has estranged the paper from the community to the point that it's seen as an out-of-touch joke. It lost readership during a period of unbridled growth -- pushing away old-guard readers and failing to attract new ones. The sad thing is, newspapers the size of the A2 News actually CAN survive in this climate, as many around the country have shown. But in order to do so, you have to show some respect to your readers instead of thumbing your nose at their standards and community ideals. Otherwise, you're just an arrogant prick riding a proud newspaper into the ground.
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