11 from Local News. 10 reporters, one news clerk
1 production editor from Editorial
6 from Lifestyles: Two part-time editors, one full-time editor, two writers, one Guide listings editor/writer.
3 from business: One reporter, a wire editor and an assistant editor.
13 from the sports desk: 8 from desk, 4 writers, 1 phone clerk
6 from Photo
3 from News Art
6 off the news copy desk
1 off the news desk
Corrections, additions, and more details about categories of jobs please.
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These are all the farewell messages in the comments so far:
I'm gone and I will miss all of you more than I can say. It has been an honor to work with such clever and loving people. I believe in what we accomplished at the DMN and hope there is a future for all newspapers everywhere. I would appreciate any advice or leads you might know of. Natalie Caudill Natalie.Caudill@gmail.com
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I too have had the hammer fall on my head. I devoted myself to the newspaper biz and the Morning News. It has been an honor to work with so many talented and committed people in news. I appreciate the prayers and best wishes. I am 58 years old, a woman, single and have had a stroke. What now? Here is part of the breakdown: 6 off the news copy desk, all in their 50s except one; one off the news desk, 13 in sports; 2 in business; mostly zone reporters in metro; no one from TSW, national or international except a special writer. Where are the managers? God bless you all! Laura Miller, 15 years at DMN, 32 year career
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Thank all of you in The DMN newsroom for your words of support and encouragement this morning. It's the world's greatest understatement to say that it has been an honor to work with you.
I have learned so much from you during my two decades at The News. The talent and dedication in that room is amazing. Some of you, and you know who you are, have given help and understanding during many difficult times.
I consider myself very fortunate to have been able to work at a job that has allowed me to do so much with my life so far.
I'm still a little numb, knowing that for the first time in nearly 32 years I do not have a newspaper job.
But I will be fine. I have many good friends, a loving family and a partner whose unconditional love has indeed made me a better person. We will celebrate 21 years of being together next weekend.
My thoughts and prayers are with you all.
--Frank Trejo
Trejojr@aol.com
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Greetings all,
After nearly nine years of contributing all I have to the company in the sports department, I have become a statistic. I will miss being a sports writer and smiling at the compliments from those who read my work, but at the same time, I'm not overly upset.
It'll be tough, but I won't complain. I will start my master's program in educational technology this summer. In the meantime, I'm hoping to land a job with benefits just to help out around the house. I ask for all of your prayers in these dire times. Please pray for my family, and send up a financial prayer for all who have been RIFd.
God bless you all.
Damon L. Sayles
DLSayles@yahoo.com
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I’ve been saying for weeks that I would stick with this beloved profession until I was told to stop, and then I would figure out Plan B.
So, time for Plan B.
I grew up reading the Times Herald and Morning News. Seeing my byline in this newspaper was a dream come true. I feel privileged to have called you all colleagues and lucky to count so many of you as my friends.
Thanks for the warm wishes, loving support and righteous indignation on my behalf.
Please don’t be shy about sending the freelance and job leads.
Good luck to all who remain behind but especially to the amazingly talented crew of people walking out the door with me.
Cheers,
Beth Langton
(bethlangton (at) yahoo.com or find me on facebook)
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You can add my name to the list of those RIF'ed. Just reached my 12 year anniversary in sports. Not gonna bore everyone with a long, sappy farewell -- I trust that the people who have helped me along the way and have been my friends know how I feel about them.
I don't have any immediate plans, but I'm not sad, angry or panicky. I know there are worse things than losing a job. My wife and son are happy and healthy. My dad's having heart surgery today and my sister is about to give birth to my nephew - life goes on.
If anyone needs to reach me, I can be found on facebook and at keithwhitmire (at) sbcglobal.net.
Good luck to all,
Keith Whitmire
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At the moment, it’s hard to imagine work that’s as invigorating, as important and as much fun as being a journalist at a daily newspaper. It’s been a pleasure and a privilege to work alongside some of the best reporters, editors, photographers and designers in my years at the Morning News and the Star-Telegram, and I’ll always cherish the memories.
That said, tomorrow will be a new day, with new adventures. I’m looking forward to exploring them.
Here’s hoping that, for democracy’s sake if nothing else, the decision-makers in our industry figure out how to steer journalism through these icebergs safely. Meanwhile, my parting requests to you are that you never abandon the principles and passions that drew you to journalism and that you continue to be kind to each other.
Journalists are some of the smartest, funniest and most compassionate people I know. Please stay in touch. You can find me on Facebook.
All the best,
Mary McMullen Gladstone
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To my colleagues at SportsDay,
I had a dream last night that my house was invaded by a bear. It attacked me, but I fended it off with a banana. True story. So I woke up knowing that today would be an adventure, but that the ultimate outcome would be favorable and possibly humorous.
My thoughts are with those of you who have families, mortgages, and livelihoods to hold together. Our workplace was not without adversity, but we shared some special moments, and created one of the finest sections in the nation as well. I am proud to have worked with you, and honored to call you my friends.
There's no need for an Amber Alert this time; I'm not coming back!
Best wishes,
Bavand
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Nancy Moore posted a lovely farewell over on the Unfair Park blog.
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Most of you will not know me by name. I worked as a Photo Librarian for 9 years, 8 months and 3 days. I walked the hallways a lot and loved interacting with all the unusual characters that make up the News Department. I will miss being there more that I can possibly say. Thank you all being so generous in spirit.
Cris Miller
cris.miller@att.net
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I didn't want to comment on here yesterday for obvious reason. This has been the worst week of my life, and I haven't quite been able to understand it.
I don't understand the decision that were made. I wrote more than 450 stories and produced 70+ videos in 37 weeks, but it didn't save me from getting RIFed. My less than 40K salary didn't help me either.
Ironically, months before I was laid off, I was told that I was doing exactly what they wanted my position to do. I never heard any negative comments about my work.
I just don't understand.
I was hoping to make a year at the DMN, but I feel two months shy. I'll miss you all. I wish you all the best.
Sincerely,
Dan X. McGraw
danxmcgraw(at)gmail.com
1 on the news desk
ReplyDelete11th metro elimination was a news clerk, not a production editor
ReplyDeleteThe bear represented danger. But the dream shows that you know instinctively how to deal with a crisis. The banana means that you need more potassium in your diet. Happy trails, brother. I miss you already!
ReplyDeleteThe editors cut in Business were an assistant editor and a wire editor.
ReplyDelete(Business copy editors were combined into the Universal Desk a couple years ago.)
Small cx: Business lost one reporter, a wire editor and an assistant editor -- both were originating editors, not copy editors. Business copy editors have been part of the Universal Desk for a while. The UD lost 6 copy editors, including 3 formerly on the lifestyles desk, and the News Desk lost one.
ReplyDeleteMost of you will not know me by name. I worked as a Photo Librarian for 9 years, 8 months and 3 days. I walked the hallways a lot and loved interacting with all the unusual characters that make up the News Department. I will miss being there more that I can possibly say. Thank you all being so generous in spirit.
ReplyDeleteCris Miller
cris.miller@att.net
EDITORIAL???
ReplyDeleteone clarification: of the 6 copy editors, 3 were lifestyles copy editors. Their group was newly integrated with the ud.
ReplyDeleteSports cuts were 8 from desk, 4 writers, 1 phone clerk.
ReplyDeleteThe number in sports should really be 14 (5 writers) to reflect the departure of Rangers beat writer Evan Grant. His position was eliminated when the FWST took over our Rangers coverage. Evan leaving for D magazine essentially saved someone from being RIFed.
ReplyDeleteI didn't want to comment on here yesterday for obvious reason. This has been the worst week of my life, and I haven't quite been able to understand it.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand the decision that were made. I wrote more than 450 stories and produced 70+ videos in 37 weeks, but it didn't save me from getting RIFed. My less than 40K salary didn't help me either.
Ironically, months before I was laid off, I was told that I was doing exactly what they wanted my position to do. I never heard any negative comments about my work.
I just don't understand.
I was hoping to make a year at the DMN, but I feel two months shy. I'll miss you all. I wish you all the best.
Sincerely,
Dan X. McGraw
danxmcgraw(at)gmail.com
Dan,
ReplyDeleteDon't try to make sense of your firing, because there's no sense to be made. You did yeoman's work here at the DMN. You hustled your ass off every day. You produced reams of copy, both for print and the web. It's not your fault that Those Above failed to recognize the effort. You held up your end of the deal, for sure.
Your firing tells me all that I need to know about what lies ahead for those left behind, and it looks pretty crappy, frankly.
If I can help you out in any way, lemme know.
Kent Fischer
kent.fischer [at] gmail.com
Dan and Kent, you guys are both too young to remember the CueCat fiasco here. But Dan got caught in the same kind of crunch. In both cases, teams were assembled to pursue what all were assured was the Future of the Industry. CueCat was stupid from Day One. And sadly, the "MoJo" idea wasn't a lot smarter. It's unusual for any video to get more than a few hundred hits. And the actual appetite for the kind of crime brief morning stuff that Dan was mostly assigned to pursue never reached anything like the hopes/predictions. So it never justified keeping those positions. As with CueCat, when the corporation cut its losses, the staffers asked to be pioneers were the ones who suffered.
ReplyDeleteI did much more than just write morning crime briefs and videos that got a few hundred hits. That last comment is a little annoying, but I respect your opinion.
ReplyDeleteTo clarify: you both did much more than those MoJo duties. But they would not have created those jobs for GA work, no matter how much we needed them. The failure was not yours.
ReplyDeleteDan,
ReplyDeleteI had the pleasure to work with you in research and I know the quality of your work. You did write more than just morning crime briefs and you were very prolific. Your work did not go unnoticed. I know these words are little comfort. I wish you all the best and I am sorry that this had to happen to you or anyone.
Dan, take this from the commenter: You were caught in something beyond your control. Mobile journalists was a major push a year ago. Our company lacks sustainability. We have many examples in the last 10 years. As the previous commenter said, those who volunteer on those pioneering efforts are often punished later.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who was hired by Belo in 2000 to implement the Digital Convergence/CueCat project, let me just say that Anonymous 2:37 really hit the nail on the head. We were summarily let go by Belo after the company decided that the $40 million CueCat investment wasn't worth it about a year into the project.
ReplyDeleteNo one at Belo offered to help us find positions elsewhere in the company so we essentially took a bullet for that project.
That was Sept 13, 2001. I vowed never to work for Belo again.
Looks like the company will be a shell of itself soon as a result of these misguided actions.
I will say, however, that CueCat was the wrong thing at the wrong time but I did admire them for thinking back then about how to more closely align their print/broadcast properties with the Internet.
Too bad that due diligence didn't pay off.
The last comment is so true Dan, take it to heart and go on to bigger and better things. I've been at the DMN for 10 years & there has always been a "flavor of the month" that was going the save the paper and Belo. Starting with the Cue Cat, TXCN, continuing with tabloids for busy soccer moms, youth-oriented tabloids, Spanish language papers, containable stories, video as the savior, citizen journalism (not) newspapers, then mojos. The latest ill-fated waste of money is of course Briefing. They rarely give any idea more than 8 months to take root before they squash it.
ReplyDeleteThose of us who know you were impressed and shocked/saddened when your number was called. We will also look out for any opportunities that call for a smart, dedicated and hard working journalist. The sky is the limit my friend.
Don't forget The Arlington Morning News.
ReplyDeleteAnd please let's not forget that Belo sold the Food Network - yes, that's right, The Food Network - to Scripps in 2000. Granted, Scripps isn't doing too hot either right now even after diversifiying its portfolio with an entity such as the Food Network. But c'mon, really. How do you sell off a property such as that? Guess they didn't see the potential behind it....but I guess that's to be expected from these execs.
ReplyDeleteI'm all for Dan, man. You can find plenty of photogs who shoot good video and make good pics on the same assignment, but it is extremely rare in this business to find a reporter who can write a decent story and edit and post a quality video too. And to do that sometimes twice in one day -what more can you ask?
ReplyDeleteNEWSFLASH: New idea to save the DMN!!!!! WATCHDOG JOURNALISM, yeh, that's the ticket!
ReplyDeleteAnon 2:37 here: Dan, let me try to be more careful about what I wanted to say: You did exactly the job they wanted from the position And more. But the justification for having the position at all was fatally flawed. The theory of the MoJo was that it would draw enough local eyeballs to the website particularly with the videos -- while also feeding the print edition. The web half of the assumption -- the reason the positions were created -- turned out to be false. This is also what happened with CueCat. The staffers who produced the CueCat content did exactly what the mission was and more. But the mission was bogus.
ReplyDeleteDan:
ReplyDeleteSomeone from photo here. Your rif was just as senseless as all the others. And I know a lot of us were equally impressed with your ability to "double fist" video and news reporting. You did a great job on both. I'm sorry the higher ups couldn't recognize that.
Take care, Dan. I hope you continue to pursue video in any way you can, if that's your wish.
Dan,
ReplyDeleteDan and Blanca getting RIF'd wasn't a strike against the MOJO idea or the reporters themselves. The online content will still include quick-hit breaking news briefs and video. This is a power play between Metro's breaking news desk and Interactive's Web editors. The control of breaking news now goes back to a politically astute Web editor and a band of interns that get paid even less than Dan's sub 40k salary. Of course now the interns will have to compete with the Breaking News Desk editors originally hired to manage Dan and Blanca. How many editors (with large salaries) does it take to post content to the Home Page, particularly when they have no reporters? This had nothing to do with the Web reporters performance or skills and everything to do with the struggle between two departments and the ill-fated effort for editors to save their own jobs.
ReplyDeleteAnon @ 11:32: Well said. How may editors does it take? We may need to hire more. Sheesh.
ReplyDeleteA lot of the young metro reporters got the shaft in a political power play.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteAnon @ 7:04 AM...
ReplyDeleteI think "watchdog journalism" IS being done. But, the News doesn't own Jim Schuetze.
Yes, a lot of young metro reporters got burned in a political power play. At least one, a winner of a prestigious award that commends young journalists. But what makes Dan and Blanca's plight so interesting is that they were hired less than a year ago as mojo's for the new Breaking News Desk with much fanfare, only to be told those jobs are not important afterall. During the alleged transition from print to Web, those in power can't decide the big picture goals of the Web or eveb determine WHO is in charge of DallasNews.com. This let-them-fight-it-out-until-the-last-editor-is-standing philosophy doesn't work in a company that's in crisis. If the Web is the future, and surely everyone has that figured out by now, then making your weakest editors in charge of it may not be the best survival strategy.
ReplyDeleteAbout the Breaking News desk: Currently at 2 1/2 editors more or less, and 1 1/2 reporters. Of the four people, three have been with the DMN since before there was a website, so it's not like they were hired for this.
ReplyDeleteHow is there 2 1/2 editors and 1 1/2 reporters? I don't understand that. I might have missed something there.
ReplyDeleteBreaking News Desk: Four people total. One is just reporting. One is pretty much just editing. Two are mostly editing but are also doing some reporting. That makes it a little hard to assign editor/reporter numbers. None of them are sitting on their hands or eating bon bons. The MoJos had been assigned to this desk, so there were 6 people total before the RIF.
ReplyDeleteOoooh! Web "training!" I had put that out of my mind. The worse use of company money ever. And I realize I am setting a high bar.
ReplyDeleteThere are three editors and no reporters on the BN Desk. There is also a Web champion who is supposed to help get content from metro reporters to the Web. What does it matter that they were at the paper before there was a Web site? Blanca and Dan both worked for Belo before they were hired for the BN desk. All of the editors on that desk had to interview for their jobs on the BN desk. What's your point?
ReplyDeleteUm. I guess I'll weigh in here. I'm the reporter assigned to the BN desk. (anon 2:33, google up the poem "The Owl Critic.")
ReplyDeleteI did not "interview for the job." Whether the editors "interviewed" or were simply assigned, deponent saith not. All three editors do some reporting, though the percentage varies by the person and by the day.
A lot of talented people -- both on and off the Breaking News Desk -- learned video, web and other skills deemed crucial to the survival of our company. One or two or however many rounds of cuts ago, we were told something to the effect of, if you can't live with change, you know where the door is.
ReplyDeleteAnd now many of those people who adapted are sacked. And guess what? More "change" ahead. Any bets on how long the next great philosophy will last?
Goodness, don't remind about the Web training in 2007. That was such a JOKE. I can't believe the company spent tons of money on that training and what they considered "propietary information." I remember the back of that stupid Web binder had a message about how the information contained in there was propietary. Gimme a break. That Web traning shouldn't have been required for everybody if anything. Oh well. At least the free food offered during that training was fairly good and edible. And I feel sorry for the employees who got roped into training that stupid, waste of a class.
ReplyDeleteThe Web training consisted of asking Web editors to determine what should be taught to the print folks. The Web editors decided they didn't want to train anyone to do their jobs, so they offered information about "Why" the Web is important. Can you list places to get information besides a newspaper? That's good class. Now here is what a slideshow looks like. Can you say Search Engine Optimization?
ReplyDeleteThose classes were idiotic. But at least they were expensive.
Anybody reread Fahrenheit 451 lately?
ReplyDeleteAll,
ReplyDeleteI have been a DMN subscriber since 1990. In those years, I have seen what was once a great paper, with a world-class sports section, deteriorate into a shell of its former self. When I look at the talent that has worked here, only to be pushed out the door with no ceremony, I wonder why I continue my subscription.
This latest bloodbath signals to me the final demise of the institution that was DMN. Tomorrow, I am ordering a Kindle from Amazon, and I will subscribe to RSS feeds from countless former DMN staffers who continue to produce great content on their own. I will miss going out to the curb to get my paper each morning, but the time has come to stop my patronage of this inconsequential source.
To those of you let go today and in the past, my heart-felt thanks for all your hard work over the years. I wish you much success in the future. I trust you will land on your feet - the delivery method has changed, but talent wins out in the end - really!
Best,
PHE
The Dallas Morning News has no competition in the Metroplex. How can you lose with that situation? I'll tell you how, let the corporate zombies make the decisions. Sure, the internet is the next big thing. But who is better suited to make the best of that situation? Let the newsapaper go bankrupt and allow others to run the assets better. Firing talent is the wrong way to improve content! A former subscriber.
ReplyDelete"The Dallas Morning News has no competition in the Metroplex"
ReplyDeleteFW Star-Telegram?