(Washington) Post Buyouts Come With an Emotional Cost (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

Let's not bury the lead: This is a rough time for the newspaper business, a rough time for The Washington Post and a rough time for me.

No one need shed any tears for the people leaving this building. The more than 100 journalists who have just taken early-retirement packages are voluntarily accepting a generous offer as the company trims its payroll -- a situation far better than at newspapers that have resorted to layoffs.

But it is painful to watch from the inside. The talented reporters, editors and photographers walking out the door are part of the heart and soul of a living, breathing organism. How do you replace a Tom Ricks, one of the best Pentagon reporters ever? Or a Sue Schmidt, the investigative reporter who revealed Jack Abramoff's dirty dealings? Or Robin Wright, who's covered the Middle East for a quarter-century? What about battle-scarred editors with deep knowledge and a light touch?

I know, I know. The future is digital. The Web is a cornucopia of fast-moving video and blogs and bulletins and gossip, while newspapers are old, slow and less than hip. That's why The Post (and every other paper on the planet) is beefing up its online presence and why I write a daily blog for the Web site.

But -- and stop me if you've heard this one -- newspapers matter. There isn't a Web site around that can produce the probing work, such as the exposé of shoddy conditions at the Army's Walter Reed Medical Center, that won The Post six Pulitzer Prizes this year. The economics of the Web, for now, won't support a staff that can hold public officials accountable across the region and still cover every Nationals game.

Another dinosaur flouncing about and caught in the tar pits. Check out the comments section.

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/EastVolusia/evlEAST11HEAD02052408.htm

May 24, 2008

Cox objects to N-J execs payouts
By JAY STAPLETON
Staff Writer

DAYTONA BEACH — Cox Enterprises has asked a federal judge to toss out severance packages worth more than $13 million for top managers of The Daytona Beach News-Journal.

The motion filed Friday by the newspaper chain and minority owner of the News-Journal comes at a time when the two parties have agreed to work together to sell the newspaper. Cox officials say they did not learn of the severance packages — most completed in November 2004 — until after the selling agreement was reached this month.

The severance packages, Cox contends, could create a $13 million liability for any buyer, lower the value it receives for its 47.5 percent share and create a “management vacuum” if top managers leave the company.

A statement from the Davidson family, which owns the majority of the 80-year-old newspaper company, said they would oppose the request.

“The News-Journal and the Davidson family have a history of putting their employees first,” the statement said. “Indeed; no member of the Davidson family has a severance package to fall back on.”

In the motion to set aside the severance agreements, attorneys for Atlanta-based Cox said the News-Journal Corp. entered into agreements with company officers Georgia Kaney, David Kendall and 27 other top managers.

For Kaney and Kendall, the packages call for six times their annual average gross wages and could exceed $5.4 million total, Cox lawyers said.

For the other 27 managers, who were not named, the packages call for three times their annual average gross wages, for a total in excess of $8 million and an average of $300,000 per manager.

snip

In a note to the staff, Weymouth, a granddaughter of Katharine Graham, said: "The ways in which we break news and tell stories will continue to evolve and change as technology and readers' habits evolve and change.
The mission facing The Post is much like that at other papers: ........ Newspapers were painfully slow to comprehend that the old regimen of dull, insider stories and mediocre features had to change and be packaged more creatively.

The Global Warming packaged story is an example of media's fundamental problem. Instead of reporting the facts they tell us bedtime stories. Many false.

The internet puts the vast unwashed masses in charge of the "story" instead of elite gate keepers. And that will lead to a "story" that is more closely aligned with the objective truth.

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.