Twittering newspaper layoffs
The Palm Beach Post, a Cox Newspapers owned publication in the real-estate embattled Florida, dropped a bomb on their employees today by eliminating 300 of 1,350 full-time positions from the newsroom, advertising, production and circulation departments.
Boom.
Unfortunately, this isn't the first large-scale newspaper layoff recently. It's just one of many happening in media outlets across the county.
But for the first time, I read the carnage as it happened via Online Innovations Editor William Hartnett's Twitter updates.
The Palm Beach Post Online Innovations Editor William M. Hartnett Twittered the more than 300 layoffs announced at his newspaper. His constant updates kept myself and others informed of how the sad event unfolded.
Here's how it unfolded, via Hartnett's tweets:
- THE NOTE finally handed down at work. about 11 hours ago from digsby
- 43.8 percent newsroom staff reduction. That's gonna leave a mark. about 10 hours ago from digsby
- @patrickbeeson @dannysanchez Reporter wife and I are both productive, cheap and relatively young, so we'll see. Both buyout eligible, though about 10 hours ago from web in reply to patrickbeeson
- Metro reporter baked buyout day brownies. Gotta love reporters' dark sense of humor. about 10 hours ago from web
- Looking forward to getting the details of my buyout offer at 2 p.m. about 10 hours ago from web
- 300+ of 1,350 FTEs being cut. ~130 from newsroom, 60+ each in advertising and production, 40+ in circulation. 80 positions currently vacant about 10 hours ago from web
- Heading into buyout plan meeting. about 7 hours ago from web
- Brought my old TI-81 graphing calculator to buyout meeting, just in case. about 7 hours ago from web
- Comparing number of people I want to leave/get fired to number I hope stay. about 7 hours ago from web
- SOOO much nervous, inappropriate, forced laughter. about 7 hours ago from web
- Buyout application deadline Friday, July 11th. about 7 hours ago from web
- Priority based on seniority if more people apply than necessary. about 7 hours ago from web
- That doesn't seem likely. about 7 hours ago from web
- Two weeks of pay and benefits for every year of service. about 7 hours ago from web
- Not quite enough for that yacht I was hoping to get. about 6 hours ago from web
- Max 52 weeks, for those here more than 26 years. about 6 hours ago from web
- Last day for buyout recipients: Tuesday, Aug. 12 about 6 hours ago from web
- They'll be "exited" that day. Sounds menacing. about 6 hours ago from web
- Separation pay taxed at normal rate, unless received as lump sum. about 6 hours ago from web
- Awesome question: "Are we obligated to stay until Aug. 12?" Basically, yes. about 6 hours ago from web
- Guy in front row is staring at the ceiling. about 6 hours ago from web
- No details yet on layoff severance package if buyouts don't meet job cut goals. Just "less generous." about 6 hours ago from web
- 35 jobs currently vacant, but not all will be applied to goal of roughly 130 job cuts about 6 hours ago from web
- Can't decide whether the water is up to our shins, knees or nostrils. about 6 hours ago from web
- More than 2/3 of newsroom eligible. about 6 hours ago from web
- That's all, folks. Going to pick up my envelope. about 6 hours ago from web
- Question: What would you do with $19,922.40 (before taxes), no job and mortgage payments on a house you can't sell? about 5 hours ago from web
- Just weighing options, that's all. about 5 hours ago from web
- Just to be clear, wife and I are merely eligible for buyout. Obviously, no decisions yet. And layoff survival prospects seem decent. about 5 hours ago from web
Reading these updates from Hartnett, I couldn't help but think back to T. M. Shine's moving article "Terminated" published a while back in The Washington Post Magazine.
What a terrible thing, these hiring freezes, buyouts and layoffs.
Despite my somewhat insulated position at Scripps corporate, I still bristle whenever I hear of newspaper folk losing their jobs. My fiance works at a local alternative weekly, and I have plenty of good friends and colleagues fighting the good fight to keep readers and Web users informed about what's happening in their neighborhoods.
Rest assured, we're all trying to save the newspapers now.
A note to Hartnett, and others working hard to create new revenue streams outside the embattled verticals: Don't take the buyout. You're in a good spot, doing good things. It will pay off in the end.
Five comments
Thanks for the encouraging words. The announcement did land with quite a thud, as the number of job cuts in the newsroom was quite a bit higher than the figures even the most pessimistic of us had been whispering about the past few months. Onward, eh?
@William
Keep your head high. I can't imagine a newspaper of the present wanting to get rid of their innovation editor. That's just crazy talk.
All this fuss over some layoffs. What a bunch of cry babies. Now that the newspapers are going through what the rest of us have been dealing with for decades all of a sudden its big news. There are hardly any news articles about US companies replacing American workers with 65,000 H1B visa temporary workers each year and that is not even counting the L1 visas. Journalists callously wrote articles about how poor foreigners need those jobs. Well where are the articles about how the outsourcing in the news industry is good and helps poor immigrants get jobs. As far as I'm concerned, the current downsizing/outsourcing going on in the news industry is some much needed bitter medicine for the out of touch media.
@displaced worker
Thanks for the comment.
First off, why not use your real name? It doesn't make sense to hide behind a false username these days.
Also, define "rest of us." What industry are you referring to?
The American economy has been pretty healthy for the past few years; the media has experienced a decline in revenue for a while now. The layoffs and buyouts of late are simply the tipping point.
Your comments about the stories being written only hid your ignorance of the situation.
Dear Patrick:
There is a growing movement that is slowly proving that it isn't journalism that's dead, it's the medium it is transmitted upon.
If you are looking for an interesting place to do some writing, I would like to invite you to visit the new Paris Herald, at: http://ParisHerald.com
We would love to hear from you. There is so much going on in the world, and I hope we have a lot to offer in the daily arena. I know your readers would love to know where to find you, again.
Don't think of an online publication as any less formidable, think of it as a trend towards a greener, more earth-friendly medium. ;-)
Most cordially,
Jes Alexander, Editorial Director The Paris Herald
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