BUY BUY OR IS IT BYE BYE
It's all we are talking about in our business these days. Buyouts and Layoffs. No one is immune. CBS has had widespread layoffs. Recently we saw a smaller round of layoffs at the Gannett stations. The fact of the matter is the economy is in bad shape, and we are now feeling the ripple effects of it all.
At one of the most esteemed newspapers in the country it is a drip, drip, drip phenomenon. Every day there is a new name added to the roster of big names leaving the Washington Post. They are not being laid off, they are taking buy outs. All are accepting the newspapers generous early retirement package. The roster includes names like Tony Kornheiser, David Broder, and Bob Woodward. Those are the names that jump off the page, but there are so many others who are leaving. All of them take away years of reporting experience, wisdom, contacts, and a Rolodex to die for. So who loses? I think we all do.
I have good reason to feel that way. I had a lunch a week or so ago with a good friend. He was a reporter who spent decades covering the White House. I bumped into him at the Correspondents dinner a few weeks back. I suggested lunch, and that's when he told me he wasn't at the paper anymore. He's the communications director at a non profit in Georgetown.
So we got together for lunch at a restaurant overlooking the Potomac. We had great food, and a great conversation. He had wonderful stories, from his time covering Presidents Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Bush. He was covering President Bush's re-election effort when the editor called him into his office to suggest he take a buyout. As he put it, he strongly encouraged him to take the buyout. There were just a few people targeted for the buyout at this newspaper. It was all very hush, hush. My friend was one of them. All of the candidates had something in common. They were some of the best and brightest, and therefore some of the highest paid journalists on the payroll.
So now a new generation of journalists is emerging. The only problem is the cagey veterans like my friend are leaving. Those are the people you learn from. I wouldn't be who I am, if I hadn't spent time in my first newsroom in Southern California learning from Howard Culver, Ed Ziel, and Dick Spangler. I can remember Howard coming over to me with copy and dropping it on the desk.
"This doesn't cut it, try again!"
That's all he would say. When he stopped dropping the copy on the desk I felt like I had hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth in the final game of the World Series. Howard was a throw back to another time. He was a grizzled veteran finishing up a storied career. He worked in the golden age of radio. He loved broadcasting, and wanted nothing but the best for it. He passed away in 1984. Now days it seems lots of bosses are criss-crossing newsrooms looking for the Howard Culver's. They are looking to thank them, but to say Buy-Buy or in other words Bye, Bye!
Speaking of Bye, my blog is moving! Here is the new link:
If that doesn't work...try this one:
I hope you'll keep reading!
posted by mike walter @ 9:02 AM
2 Comments
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2 Comments:
The link works Mike, although I had to open a new window, as it would not redirect.
I don't feel the connection your line of work has to the economy is as relative to economic stress as it is to the changing technology or method of distributing information and News. Certainly it's had it's impact but this trend has been coming for decades now.
( http://www.stateofthenewsmedia.org/2004/narrative_newspapers_audience.asp?cat=3&media=2 )
I think the current environment, the rise in costs, and the lack of purchasing power (priority shifts) have only accelerated it.
News print had it's first hits with radio and then television, and now the Internet. I feel television's impact was veiled by the rise in population.
From the 70's onward we saw consolidation, and now we see real decline.
For me it's scary because I want and need the additional perspectives or (spin) on what is reported.
The talent drain also bothers me, and the way the news is researched. The New York Times episode underlines that, and hopefully they reaffirmed guidelines to prevent a future occurrence.
Then you also have Dan Rather's episode and what effect that may have had, as I don't feel he was ready to sheath his pen when he did.
I'm just a 'bloke' on the street, but I like to know what's going on, and depend on it being objective and bland (unflavored).
It helps me make sense of things that happen around me, because without the trust and understanding, the world may appear much more insane than it already does.
The Movie "Network" comes to mind, and as you know... I've linked it.
I'll still keep reading you Mike, I hope my comments are welcome.
OK I'm over there, the new site.
The new wusa9 page is now up and this is linked in your archives.
I've been a beta tester by doing this :)
Not sure you'll need to worry about URL links on the new site, but I recently discovered by putting them in parenthesis (in this blog format) they stay within the text area.
Anyways I started a blog on the new site. I'll miss this one, but I adapt and evolve :)
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