chuckography: "Uh, DON'T stop the presses!"

Sunday, January 27, 2019

"Uh, DON'T stop the presses!"

So, you wanna be a Journalist? Be able to stick a PRESS card in the band of your derby.

Flick your tongue over the tip of your No.2 Ticonderoga yellow pencil and jot down notes in the slim Reporter's notepad you keep in the breast pocket of your jacket.

Check your knotted tie at your collar and be all business as you write your impressions of a "Perp walk" going into the courthouse. Or getting details from a smoke-smudged firefighter or a police officer at the scene of a gory murder that started out as a yelling match in a "domestic dispute."

The accused politician who is all bluster and outrage and the stunned black man who was turned away from the polls. Recording the happy expressions of joy from the parents of a 5-year old who was found safe and sound after a harrowing ordeal...

Oops, sorry. Newspapers are not hiring, they're firing.

Yeah, the Times they are a-changing and I don't mean the New York Times.

Saw this long article this morning in a newspaper newsletter I receive from former co-workers at the San Diego Union-Tribune..

“Another brutal day for journalism.

Gannett began slashing jobs all across the country Wednesday in a cost-cutting move that was anticipated even before the recent news that a hedge-fund company was planning to buy the chain.

“The cuts were not minor.

“At the Indianapolis Star, three journalists were laid off, including well-known columnist Tim Swarens. At the Knoxville (Tennessee) News-Sentinel, University of Tennessee women’s basketball reporter Dan Fleser is out after more than 30 years in sports. The Tennessean cut three positions, including high school sports reporter Michael Murphy. Traci Bauer, the executive editor of LoHud (New York), was let go.

Six were laid off at The Record in North Jersey after nine took an early retirement buyout earlier this month.

“On and on it continued.

“Four were let go at the Westchester (New York) Journal News. Four were let go at the Ventura County (California) Star. Five were let go at The Citizen-Times in Asheville, North Carolina.

“The Arizona Republic laid off two, including cartoonist Steve Benson, the 1993 Pulitzer Prize winner for cartooning and a finalist for the award four other times.

“News of the layoffs leaked out on Twitter and across newsrooms on Wednesday afternoon and continued well into the night, with reports of cuts at the Corpus Christi (Texas) Caller-Times, the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the Fort Myers (Florida) News-Press and USA Today’s travel section. It’s still unclear how many journalists and how many news outlets were impacted. Gannett did not respond to a request for comment.