The Fort Worth Star-T is the latest paper in this area to start making cuts. Roughly 12 percent will go and the rest will settle in for wage cuts. Basically, anyone who makes more than $25,000 a year will take a pay cut of 2.5 percent to 10 percent, depending on how much they make.
Pretty sad, when most of your rank-and-file doesn't make much to begin with. Workers have already had 401k plans and pensions frozen.
What I'm wondering is when the economy gets better, will any of this be reinstated? My guess is no. I've yet to see a newspaper anywhere make cuts of any kind and then ever replace anyone. What this means for the industry isn't good. I have days when I still wish I was in it, but for the most part, I'm glad I'm out.
It's not worth it with the way most newspapers are today -- not for me. But for those who are still determined to stick with newspapers, here's hoping the bloodletting stops.
2 comments:
But even the newspapers that still exist...how pure are they? How much was the Dallas Morning News really Belo, for example? I love the idea of a "real" newspaper, one that represents the community and puts forth ideas, but from what I saw at The AP, those kinds of papers existed more in facade than actuality. When push came to shove in any decision, it seemed that corporate ownership triumphed over editorial wisdom every time. So, amid the grief, I wonder a bit what we are losing. perhaps something better still, some heretofore unimagined media, will replace the newspapers in a way that the internet can't. Personally, I still like ingesting information in a non-electronic way, and I know I'm not alone. Something will come about; I just don't know what yet.
I hope you are right. I saw a comment somewhere that basically said for journalism to survive and thrive, corporate journalism must first die.
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