Here 'tis.
Posted on 08/06/2007 8:17:06 PM PDT by freedomdefender
It came suddenly and I don’t think anyone expected it, but it happened. I was surprised. More to the point, I was deeply saddened by the result.
As I was typing my notes into the computer, I was oblivious about what was going on around me. I was too caught up in my own work to even notice. But then I saw her crying and embracing her former co-workers. I already knew what happened.
Her work area is now empty. The stacks of papers, files and stationery that found a home on her desk are gone. The news clips and posters that once decorated her work area are gone. Only an empty desk and a bare wall remain.
I’m trying to think about what she had posted on the walls by her work area. There was a poster for the 2005 movie “Fever Pitch.” It’s gone now. She had Boston Red Sox memorabilia on those very walls. She even had newspaper articles about the Red Sox winning the 2004 World Series. It was their first World Series victory since 1918. I didn’t know her well, but she was definitely a Red Sox fan. Now she’s gone.
Now that I think of it, I can’t be too surprised. It was bound to happen.
Earlier today, I read a company e-mail from Ken Brusic, the editor of The Orange County Register.
“Most of you heard during town halls last week that revenue problems continue to plague our company and our industry,” Brusic said in the e-mail. “We learned, for example, that revenue was 14 percent behind last year and profit was 38 percent behind.”
“And last year’s financial results were behind the year before,” he said in his e-mail.
The e-mail continued with announcements of cutbacks in expenses, including eliminating positions and the staff members who hold those positions, and other non-payroll costs as a “necessary solution” to their financial problems. Those cutbacks would also affect the content centers (newsrooms) at The Register’s headquarters in Santa Ana and all of its bureaus.
Brusic’s e-mail said that The Register will be cutting space, eliminating open positions, reducing freelance, dropping some wire services and letting people go.
Most of those people would be let go by next Thursday, but in our bureau one was let go today.
The layoffs were imminent. Everyone knew it was going to happen. Last Friday, there was a town hall meeting for employees where the future layoffs were announced. I didn’t attend the meeting because I was out covering an even at Linda Vista Elementary School in Mission Viejo. I only learned about the layoffs later that day when someone in the finance department told me.
So, there I was at about 6 p.m. or so typing my notes for one of my future stories about child actors when I noticed the senior sports writer for South Orange County was crying. She was laid off. It didn’t make sense. When I started my internship, The Register hired a new sports writer for South Orange County. Why would they hire a new sports writer if they already had an experienced one? This week, Freedom Communications, the parent company of The Register, announced that they purchased five community publications in Northern California. Why would they buy five community publications if they have financial troubles? I don’t have an answer. It doesn’t make sense.
After the senior sports writer left with all her belongings, the news team leader for the Lake Forest bureau addressed the remaining reporters in the newsroom. He said that this would be the only lay off in the bureau.
Another reporter told me she was afraid she would be laid off because of her age. She was relieved to find out that it wasn’t her. Another reporter was equally happy to learn that his job was safe. What about the senior sports writer who got laid off? What will she do now that she’s out of work?
Even though everyone knew that The Register would let people go, many reporters were still surprised to see such an experienced reporter get laid off.
I was informed that the newsroom staff members were tense because of the potential layoffs. That explains the sense of relief that filled the newsroom when the team leader announced that only one reporter was laid off for the Lake Forest Bureau.
As revenues for traditional print media continue to decline, more reporters will get laid off. I think that some time in the near future the Lake Forest bureau will experience more layoffs – and more reporters will leave their positions in tears as they try to seek employment in a medium that is losing money.
Although I’m only a summer intern at The Register, I’m concerned about my future employment prospects. I’m about to embark on my final year at USC and I have no idea what I’ll do once I graduate. At 29, I’m an undergraduate student double majoring in history and journalism. My emphasis in history is 20th century America, which will help me put current events in perspective. As a student of journalism at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication, I learned the fundamentals of all media in the university’s rigorous convergence curriculum. I have a lot of ambitions. I’ve also had a lot of job experiences ranging from banking to insurance and customer service to retail, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t find myself out of a dream job.
In the Navy we had a hotline for this, dial: 1-800-WAAH
Any Spanish language newspapers hiring?
Time for someone to post the Huge Manatee.
Nobody owes you a job OC Source. Find any work. Work hard. Advance. With a college education, you should have many skills.
I try not to take pleasure in the hard times of others, but the main stream media has caused so much damage to our country that I cannot help but feel that we edge closer to normalcy with each bump downwards the MSM takes.
In our Navy unit, we had a phone number to call also — the Chaplain’s.
bump
And another: “Ever hear a grown man —cancel that — girl cry?”
Missy, get over it! Take a reality pill — and apply for OCS. If, on the remote chance you are accepted, by the time your obligated service is over, you might be in a position to be marketable — with real job skills. And, you might even become an acceptable, reasonably competent Naval Officer. Maybe. *S*
He was “deeply saddened by the result”.
I’m not, I hate, yes hate, most of the so called MSM and Hollywood and it’s “stars”
I hope these clowns are all out of work. Does the world really need another “journalist” or liberal arts major? Another leftwing “history” professor, distorter?
Get a clue dude, America needs engineers, software writers, plumbers, electricians, you know people who can actually do something other than just talk or BS.
Two of the smartest and most competent guys I know are my plumber and my electrician. There’s no BS about these guys.
And they probably both make more money than Mr. Whiney Penishead here.
If the MSM dismiss all their employees who’s left to make a difference?
The OC Register was the traditionally conservative response to the LA Times. Not so much lately.
There is always the internet. Start a blog.
I think the work experience at retail will help the most with your future at Walmart or McDonalds
29 years old and about to enter his senior year?
By the time I was 29 I had already been laid off from three “dream” jobs. By the time I was 30 I started my own business. That was 25 years ago and it has been a genuine dream come true.
BTW: I was working full time when I was in college and I still graduated at 24.
Here 'tis.
I LOVE IT! Thanks.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.