Terrible
There are gut-wrenching changes at the Enquirer today. I have briefly come out of retirement to post this, if only to make a thread available for people to discuss the workers who've lost their jobs. This is also this thread at Gannettoid.com. Best wishes to all.
posted by Newsache at 3:02 PM
70 Comments:
You are a sight for sore eyes. Thank you Newsache.
Michael Perry
David Wells
Marianne Cafaro
Kelly Hudson
Tabari McCoy
Kevin Necessary
Amber Samblanet
Katie Kelley Schmid
David Sorcher
Marianne Cafaro
This should reach about 100 total, 30 from the newsroom.
It's news to me, but John Eckberg will not be suckling at the teat of the mongrel dog of American journalism any more? Now that is news.
Add Melissa Huelsman & Michael Kurtz
Oh Newsache, how we missed you! Thanks for the temporary revival.
What can you or others share about layoffs in other departments?
Is it over or will the bloodletting continue throughout the week?
Don't forget Jamie Rockwell
and Ronson Slagle
Brad Cantwell
Penney Moore
Diana Kelly
Kelly Lewis
Eckberg resigned pre-layoffs to take another job.
Anyone from the library? I worked there years ago . . .
Facebook has a comment that there are 26 coming out of the newsroom alone. That would mean that there is a way to go.
Can someone verify the report that James Jackson in Cincinnati was a victim?
James Jackson is a rumor.
Welcome back. Please stay through the layoffs, which may or may not end tomorrow.
Re JJ: Someone may want to tell Kevin Osborne at CityBeat.
Someone please tell Callinan to stop waxing poetic about the layoffs on social media.
Bill Ferguson
I also heard Pete Bronson got it, but can't confirm.
Bronson confirmed.
As we cringe in fear beneath our cubicle desks, we wonder how on earth the company missed recouping the biggest, most wasteful salary in the newsroom, that of Callinan's. In 6+ years, he has proven to be nothing more than a conduit for corporate. If the company wanted to save money, it could've added Callinan's order-relaying duties to someone else's job for $25,000. Everyone knows he's just biding his time to retirement. The paper could have spared three younger journalists with the kind of talents that Gannett wants. Instead we get to keep this rotten dinosaur.
James Jackson just tweeted that he was NOT laid off. Apparently a rumor started on Twitter.
What about reporters/columnists at the Enky?
Ack! Who will shamelessly plug Eckberg's and Bronson's "books" now?
Head librarian was just called in.
Maybe while the ax is still falling it will hit the writer known for putting a byline on press releases, leaving events early yet writing "full" accounts and browbeating staffers of local organizations, while also getting far too cozy with deep-pocket donors and juggling an amazing array of conflicts of interest. But that might mean that the paper had professional and ethical standards.
Sally?
Sue McHugh just said goodbye to her staff.
What about other areas like Production, Marketing and Advertising? Who's been affected there?
Does anyone have the names of sales reps and artists in Cincinnati who were fired...interested in puting them to work.
Thanks.
11:32
Diana Kelly
Penney Moore
Brad Cantwell
Kelly Lewis
Those are the 4 production artists we lost.
Sally is confirmed. PT librarian remains. All that is left of the department.
Also gone Thursday: Rebecca Goodman (obit writer), Randy Tucker (asst. biz editor), Sally Besten (long-time head librarian) and copy editor Steve Sharp.
Other departments also losing people today.
Anyone know whether Rebecca Goodman asked to be laid off? Didn't she recently get her law degree?
Bye, Besten. Sorry to see you go.
Terron Austin from CiN
I'd love to know whom 11:13 is referring. Some of those characteristics apply to some of them, but I can't think of a single person who does ALL of that.
And I LOVE that someone else put Eckburg's "books" in quotes. hahahahah
Not that I want anyone to lose their job (and I'm holding onto mine by a shaky thread), but can someone explain why someone like Perry was sent packing while Dennis Hetzel still has a job? Yet another round of proof that the PTB don't know jack about who does what around here.
Anyone gone from the Kentucky office?
methinks Eckberg is mr. whig. that comments reeks of him.
at 11:13: I'm thinking of the arts department...
Last graphic artist gone from newsroom too.
It's a shame to see the institutional memory of Sally Besten shown the door (as well as the rest of her). That kinda stuff hurts everybody.
No, I am not Eckberg, but he used to say shit like that, and colorful quotes like that you write down and never forget.
Names of graphic artists?
My thoughts exactly 3:51, pretty amazing.
It's a shame - but no surprise - that a number of hardworking, invaluable people were shown the door while too much dead weight was kept around.
No graphic artists on 17 got laid off. You can hire me if you want :)
KY Office
Mike Hornback (Sales Manager) and Kelly Robinson (Sales Rep) volenteered
Brad Cantwell (Production artist) and Chris McKinley (Sales Rep) were laid off.
3:19 PM: As much as I hate to say it, all of that IS embodied in one person - as well as bits and pieces being spread out among others in that ethically challenged newsroom.
4:00 PM: You have an uncanny sense of intuition. "Don't ask, don't tell" may as well be their motto.
Here's a Borgman from 1998, never published, but circulated in the Newsroom, made about the time a big banana bomb went off.
It manages to sum up my feelings eleven years later.
Borgman is a man well ahead of his time.
Borgman's cartoon reflects Buchanan's tenure well.
Any theories on why Cincinnati got hit so much harder than the others?
Got a tip from someone concerned about that layoffs that Bridge Worldwide is hiring copywriters and web designers in Cincinnati.
http://www.bridgeworldwide.com/digital-agency-jobs
Anonymous 11:32 Katie Riley is another artist designer with excepional online skills who was laid off.
Dear fellow Enquirer Media employees:
I wanted to let you know that as of 5 p.m. today, we have completed our meetings with employees whose positions were included in the workforce reduction.
This is a sad and difficult day for all of us. It’s the last day for many employees, whom we felt, in these trying circumstances, would not want to work much beyond today. There may be a few cases where employees will stay another day or so to wrap things up.
Gannett took these difficult steps to ensure it remains profitable and ready to grow when the economy rebounds. Enquirer Media does not have an audience problem; we reach 83 percent of the adults in our core market nearly five times each week. It’s the economy.
By taking these difficult steps today, we will be stronger tomorrow. The Cincinnati Enquirer has been around for 168 years – making it one of the oldest local institutions in Greater Cincinnati – and has survived 19 economic downturns, including the Great Depression. As the local economy recovers, we’ll be around to cover this story too.
We work for our advertisers. The newspaper and digital initiatives continue to provide the same strong results for our advertisers.
We work for our readers. We provide the breadth and depth of local coverage that informs and watches out for local citizens. A strong local news source provides an independent voice and a forum for all.
We have talented, flexible employees. And we still have, by far, the largest local footprint in terms of content gathering, print and online audience, promotional capability and sales capability.
Because of these accomplishments, I want to thank all employees, including those whose jobs were eliminated in this workforce reduction, for their contributions.
Many of you have communicated your thoughts to me in the past. I encourage you to continue doing so and look forward to better days ahead when the economy returns.
Margaret
I read 101 Enquirer employees were laid off. Kind of fitting considering MB is Cruella DeVil.
...Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada is far more fitting.
Bridge Worldwide is super-busy with P&G work.
Reagan Zugelter was also laid off -- while on maternity leave.
Weekend news aide Mike McQueary was also let go.
Randy Tucker was another casualty
I feel great sadness at the loss of so many fine people this week.
For those left behind who are wondering about the viability of the Enquirer in the future (and their own job security) I would point to the CiNWeekly cuts as a harbinger of what lies ahead. Those who were around when that publication launched will recall it was to be the "future" and salvation of the paper...luring in advertisers and the young readers so coveted. Young, hip staffers, huge budget, separate offices, fun parties, etc. It didn't pan out--in fact the demographic of the CiN readers turned out to be pretty much the over 35 set. That is what is so discouraging and frightening about the future of the Enquirer---the executive team has no idea what to do to stem the hemorrhaging.
Polish up your resume, network around town for new opportunities and control your own destiny. This will definitely not be the last “right-sizing.”
Graphic artist extraordinaire Randy Mazzola was also laid off. He was the last newsroom graphic artist.
Sure would be nice if someone could put together a list of all those who left.
Apparently this list of those laid off is such a closely guarded secret that not even those in the newsroom know all the names.
Was John Lu let go? It looks like he's gone from the e-mail directory.
How on earth did Lee Ann Hamilton make it through the layoff? She must have something on Tom because she doesn't show an ounce of journalistic knowhow or ability to work with people. Everytime she's read a story of mine, she fretted the most inconsequential points and details and would chop up stories without offering any explanation. How she passes as a business editor just blows my mind.
On Friday, this list still had those who were let go on it, but looks like they're gone now...
http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=CONTACT
Anyone else think that changing the name of the paper in order to accommodate an ad is disturbing? Recently, I have noticed whenever there is an ad that "wraps" half of the front page, "The Cincinnati Enquirer" becomes
"The Enquirer
Cincinnati.com"
pushed over to the right margin of the page.
Let's see. The Bengals are starting a new season! And, gasp, an "average Joe" named Neil Armstrong. Hold the presses. Those were the Page 1 centerpiece stories in the Enquirer today and yesterday. Maybe the wrong people were laid off/bought out during the purge that began just about a year ago. Pitiful.
The front-page wraps are just another way of "monetizing" the newsroom, as the editors-turned-bean-counters like to say. Tom doesn't even try anymore. News coverage is dictated by focus groups, market research, Gannett's PC-conformity division, and friends of Margaret Buchanan.
And to 10:03, we ran a front-page story on Cincy-NoKy Airport isn't the most expensive to fly out of anymore. It dropped all the way to second. Whoop-de-do.
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