Free Republic

The Washington Post used to be one of the best gigs in journalism. No longer. In a business where it generally sucks to be an employee (except for the NY Post, of course), the “WaPo,” as it is known in journalism circles, has really descended into the abyss, On The Money has learned. Top reporters want out of what they see as crappy new work conditions and possibly more layoffs coming. It’s a shame, of course. The paper and its journalists — think Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein and their dogged pursuit of Watergate — set the gold standard for...

JOURNALISTS have reported extensively on information technology and financial services work migrating offshore. Now it's their own jobs they can see disappearing over the horizon. In Britain and the US, the so-called outsourced newspaper is becoming a reality. ... "Whatever the risks and potential pitfalls, outsourcing is here to stay," the WAN report said. "The newspaper industry has only recently begun taking tentative steps into outsourcing what were once considered core competencies such as editorial, advertising and circulation. But the trend is gaining momentum."

The Chicago Tribune, challenged by weaker-than-expected first-half financial results, plans to eliminate around 120 positions from the newspaper's workforce of about 3,000, Publisher and Chief Executive David Hiller said Thursday. No decision has been made on exactly how many jobs each department and operation will lose, Hiller said. But, he said, 40 or so jobs have been vacant and left unfilled since the beginning of the year, meaning roughly 80 more will be deemed unnecessary and eliminated in the coming months. "We would hope to have most of this decided by Labor Day .. and, as much as possible, completed,"...

NEW YORK Newsday in Melville, N.Y., yesterday dismissed 72 employees and announced that 40 additional vacant jobs will be eliminated. Meanwhile, another Tribune Co. paper, The Morning-Call in Allentown, Pa., said it will end publication of Chronicle Newspapers, its chain of 11 weekly community papers, as part of cost-cutting measures. The Allentown newspaper will permanently lay off about 5 % percent of its workers, spokeswoman Vicki Mayk said, or almost 50 of The Morning Call's work force of 950. At Newsday, no "news gathering personnel" were affected by yesterday's announcement, according to a memo to employees from publisher Timothy P....

...[N]ews organizations are trying to outwit a new generation of prosecutors and protect reporters and sources in what they believe to be an increasingly antagonistic environment. In some instances, news executives are issuing guidelines to educate and retrain their staffs about taking precautions to protect their notes and other source materials from being sought as evidence in legal cases. Some are also looking at technological fixes like heightened encryption and e-mail messages that expire after a period of time.... Several news organizations had already begun clamping down on the use of anonymous sources and tightening the rules for when they...

If this battle is lost, the wounded could include you Manning Pynn February 20, 2005 Wounds inflicted by the war on journalism have been neither physical nor fatal, but the injuries have extended far beyond newspapers and television news programs. Recent assaults have included the following: The federal government fed fake news segments, promoting administration programs, to television stations -- some of which naively aired the tapes. The federal government paid columnists and commentators to promote its programs as though the endorsements resulted from their own evaluations. A federal appeals court ruled that, on penalty of going to jail, two...