Posted on 11/05/2011 3:29:15 AM PDT by abb
Layoffs have come to the Daily News.
Since this morning, staffers to be laid off have been getting called into a conference room to meet with senior vice president of human-resources Jeff Zomper. They're being told the layoffs are part of a "downsizing" operation at the paper. The layoffs aren't yet complete, (The New York Observer and the New York Post are putting the total number at 10); we've confirmed the names of a few of those who've been laid off so far.
Bob Kappstatter, a 43-year veteran of the paper who just turned 68, was one of them.
"It's been a great ride, I've loved this paper; it's been the best job in the world," Kappstatter, whose most recent title was Deputy Police Bureau Chief, told Capital. "I've seen and done things I never would have done anywhere else. I look forward to staying in the business. I'm available!"
Other victims of the downsizing are long-time political reporter Frank Lombardi; federal courts reporter Scott Shifrel; City Hall reporter Kate Lucadamo; and long-time staff photographer John Roca.
Asked about the layoffs, spokesperson Jennifer Mauer would only say, "we don't comment on personnel matters."
The News is in the throes of some internal tumult. Managing editor and tabloid veteran Stuart Marques was reportedly pushed out Oct. 14, though not all reports seemed sure that he didn't quit.
The managing photo editor also resigned this week and will leave the paper at the end of the month, as Capital first reported last night.
Last week editor in chief Kevin Convey brought the managing editors into a meeting telling them he was restructuring the top of the masthead, according to the New York Post's Keith Kelly.
They would name three new managing editors: One editor from the digital side, one "senior editor of convergence," who is working on integrating the digital and print newsrooms, and a third who'd been Senior Executive Editor.
This replaced a structure in which seven managing editors, each with their own departments, reported to Convey.
Kelly also reported that the M.E.'s appealed to chief executive William Holliber about the changes.
Another change: Arthur Brown's jump from the editorial pages to the No. 2 position at the paper, under Convey.
Convey is rumored to be under the gun. But during an online chat with readers last week, he put a positive spin on all the change at the paper.
"We're in the midst of a reorganization right now to bring the print and web staffs together for the first time, make the company digital first, and make all of our content platform-agnostic," he said. "We're always looking for ways to get better."
The staff reductions come at the end of a week that started off on a high note for the News. Data released Tuesday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations showed that the paper had moved up the auditor's rankings to become the No. 4 top-selling daily in the U.S.
I guess cartoons came on, cuz they stopped.
Those were the days when reporters were thrilled with the kind of detective work that goes with the story. In the post-Watergate era it seems most people get into journalism merely as a way to break a big scandal so they can then go on TV and pontificate. They also crave op-ed positions, where they get to tell people what they think (and what the people SHOULD think).
So reporting isn’t a job, a duty in itself, it’s a mere stepping stone to becoming a personality. They’re so eager for that kind of success, which is so rare, they just start editorializing and pushing their views in ‘news’ stories now.
Ain't that the truth! I doubt most of the old reporters had a degree of any sort, much less one in "Journalism". Wonder when the first Journalism school was established and who funded it.
Is it too much to hope that Mike Lupica would be one of them?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalism_school
History
The first program for journalism education was introduced by former Confederate General, Robert E. Lee,[1] during his presidency at Washington and Lee University, in Lexington, Virginia, in the 1860s.[2] Both the Missouri School of Journalism at the University of Missouri founded by Walter Williams in 1908[3] and the Ecole Superieure de Journalisme in Paris, France founded in 1899[4] claim to be the worlds first journalism school. Although Paris’s school opened its doors in 1899 after three years of internal debates, the question was discussed in Missouri since 1895. Since then the journalism school has become standard at most major universities.[citation needed]
Willing to bet that damn few of them ever heard of Kipling’s five friends, which was taught to me in my Jr high school civics class.
And as Andy Rooney (RIP) might have asked, “What happened to all the Jr highs any way? And where did this middle school thing come from? Too damned British if you ask me.”
So that's why they've lost more than half of their market value in the past five years!
Thanks for that surprising bit of history. I had tagged it a something to research myself, but once again Freepers prove to be amazing.
Thanks very much.
Readers comment a la Free Republic, in the magazine
***************************
We're Stirring Up Disruption
Lewis D'Vorkin, 10.05.11, 06:00 PM EDT
Forbes Magazine dated October 24, 2011
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Jonathan Becher, SAP's chief marketing officer and an AdVoice writer, says AdVoice enables his company's employees to write with "authenticity" and join the conversation. "We're all writers now. It's not just about controlling the message. It's more about orchestrating the message and getting it adopted."
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But they're laying people off?
Hmmmm.........
He found the MA message board this AM as well.
I’m sure he is tasting lightning by now....
Jeez...doesn't obama have something else to do? Like destroying the country?
Bob said that while he has enjoyed most of his 43 years with the paper, he and his lawyer will be filing a against the female head of personnel.
Bob's lawyer, Mr. Bennet would be holding a press conference over the weekend.
It ain’t rocket science.
Just the news. Something that is not done anymore.
I knew someone would finish my reference to Kipling’s five friends.
Good news. A leftist rag.
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