Them just happens to be your old buddies who worked at ABC ... Knight-Ridder ... McClatchy ... freelance ... in just the past decade
or so.
Posted on 09/07/2010 2:39:24 PM PDT by abb
Update II (2:21 p.m. September 7): I just received the Star's press release about today's layoffs, which included a statement from publisher Mark Zieman that "The Star won't die, but this recession will." Comforting.
Here's what we learned from the release:
* The week-long furloughs are "for all senior managers and most employees" and it's "necessary."
* Revenue numbers at the Star are "encouraging, but the company is pressed by a continuing economic slowdown."
* Employees getting the pink slip will get "a transition package that includes severance pay and job placement assistance."
And here's Zieman's full statement from a memo to employees:
"I know that weathering this recession has been exceptionally hard for each of you. But we will begin next year with a steadily improving revenue trend. We are posting record online traffic and revenue, we remain the dominant media company in our region, our presses and readership metrics are among the best in the country and our news products are recognized nationally for their journalistic excellence. The Star won't die, but this recession will."
Update I (1:15 p.m. September 7): The Star announced "about a dozen" layoffs on its Dollars & Sense blog about the same time our post when live. The Star also announced that the paper eliminated about a dozen unfilled positions.
The consolation prize for those lucky enough to still have a job? Another unpaid week-long furlough.
The Star had already laid people off in January and May.
Star Publisher Mark Zieman reportedly told employees in an e-mail that the "continuing economic downturn now forces us to move ahead with some measures we had hoped to avoid." Talk about uplifting.
snip
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.pitch.com ...
ping
http://journalism.about.com/od/schoolsinternships/a/Is-Technology-Training-Taking-Over-The-Nations-Journalism-Schools.htm
Is There Too Much Tech Training at the Nation’s Journalism Schools?
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/cnn/cnns_new_8_pm_show_to_be_called_parkerspitzer_will_debut_oct_4_172903.asp
CNN’s New 8 PM Show to be Called Parker-Spitzer, Will Debut Oct. 4
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/abc/poll_who_will_replace_david_westin_at_abc_news_172890.asp
Poll: Who Will Replace David Westin at ABC News?
The economy will not significantly improve without a rollback of government regulation. I think the Star is likely to be online only if it still exists by the time that happens.
http://economy.kansascity.com/?q=node/8235
The Star announces job cuts, furloughs
Once upon a time Ernest Hemingway was reporter for this publication, a vanguard to the gateway of the west. Harry Truman attacked the Star on anti-trust grounds for trying to buy a television station because the Star kept the pressure on Tom Pendergast, the KC machine pol, concrete vendor for public projects, and Truman underwriter. The founder, Bill Nelson, built the franchise that was worth about $5 Million in 1915. I wonder who they think their audience is today? I know no people in western Missouri who agree with their editorial page. Good bye and good riddance
Thge following will be all that’s left of the Star. Not sure I got all the lyrics right.
Kansas City Star,
that’s what I are,
you oughta’ see my car.
I drive a big ol’ caddilac with wire wheels
I got rhinestones on my spokes.
I got credit down at the grocery store
and my barber tells me jokes.
You can see me every weekend
in every super market parking lot.
I’m on T.V. here locally
So no thanks, Omaha, thanks a lot.
.....Roger Miller
They will just reduce the size of the paper. Reporters will be freelance rather than on staff. All papers are doing this.
I'm fairly certain that Zieman's hoping that "O" will come through with some "Obama-stash" for the (liberal)media bail out.
Them just happens to be your old buddies who worked at ABC ... Knight-Ridder ... McClatchy ... freelance ... in just the past decade
or so.
Awesome, I hate the KC Red Star
Well, if the publisher had to choose one person to terminate, I think it should be, hands-down, Yael Abouhalkah.
Bunch of newspaper dummies cant see the writing on the wall.
“I know no people in western Missouri who agree with their editorial page.”
But for a brief stint in Colo. Springs and 4 years in Dallas-Ft. Worth, I’ve lived in KC all my adult life, so it’s sad to see what’s become of this paper. For many years, we had a morning paper, the Star, and an evening paper, the Times. Then the Times was eliminated and we were left with the Star. Sad - it’s a liberal rag.
“They will just reduce the size of the paper. Reporters will be freelance rather than on staff. All papers are doing this.”
That already began awhile back with the reporters, at least a lot of them. And a year or so ago, they began charging subscribers 25 cents more for the (paltry) tv section of the Sunday edition. If you didn’t pay extra, the delivery people threw a copy without that part. (A nightmare, I’m sure, for them to keep track of.) Pitiful.
Good news, bad news? Can be as simple as point of view.
Bad news- Loss of more jobs, impact on economy.
Good news- It was the KC Star.
Bad News- Since there is no other competing newspaper in Kansas City, plans are to get a mass subscription to PRAVDA.
Good News- Pravda is less liberal.
And it, like Obama, is transparent.
That means people will be able to see it empty, all the time. Like Obama.
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