None of the layoffs in Metro were managers. Were there any managers laid off in any department? Every manager was more valuable than any of the reporters, photographers, etc. who lost jobs? Some of the reporters who lost jobs were experienced in years and their subject area. Are editors who have not worked as reporters for many years expected to step in instantly and to do as well? Even a good editor is not necessary a competent reporter, just as some good reporters are not good editors.
I have no ill will toward the managers who kept their jobs today. Like reporters, they are trying to do their best work. This was a terrible day for the survivors as well as those who were cut. But I think this reader raises a fair question that can also be found in many comments. I know that Bob Mong and George Rodrigue have meetings scheduled. I hope this is a question they will answer without needing to be asked.
Managers always protect their own. I don't know why I was surprised when no editors avoided the pink slip today, but I shouldn't have been. It has always been this way.
ReplyDeleteI'm a News alum at another newspaper that just had layoffs, and no managers were cut here either. It's not a Belo thing. They cut the rank and file and take a big raise.
ReplyDeleteIt's a little frustrating that people think the managers who were "protected" will be managing people on a 1-to-1 ratio or something silly like that. They're likely to be in the trenches, doing the reporting/editing/layout jobs that still need to be done now that the staff has been thinned. As the staff shrinks, the management structure naturally flattens and everyone is asked to do something beyond his/her original roles.
ReplyDeleteTell me a time when that has happened. Tell me one time when a manager was asked to do "something beyond his/her original roles" ... It's business as usual if you're a department head, AME, or one of the seven??? DMEs. Ho-hum. More cuts you say? Round up the usual suspects. This place takes the inverted pyramid organizational structure to a ludicrous extreme.
ReplyDeletePlease note:
ReplyDeletehttp://robertdecherd.blogspot.com/
is available for anyone who wants to sign up for free and begin publishing another blog.
Just putting it out there.
Who will register for it first? One of the rebel forces or someone from the Death Star?
The surviving editors at Al Dia are reporting, editing, taking photos, designing, etc. It's happening on the 2nd floor.
ReplyDeleteGood for them. As for the DMN, I'll believe it when I see it on the 3rd and 4th floors.
ReplyDeleteThe question is not whether editors can multitask. It is whether every editor kept will be better at reporting than every reporter RIFed.
ReplyDeleteThere are some exceptional managers who jump in when needed and work long hours but they are in the minority. It's amazing how many of those with the long titles and big paychecks hardly work a 40 hour week. Guess time will tell if anyone notices that some six figured salaries often don't bother to keep regular hours.
ReplyDeleteI was told that after today's activity is completed -- paperwork, reorganization, etc. -- some metro managers would be laid off themselves while others would be demoted and/or reassigned. No timetable given, however.
ReplyDeleteThe newspaper as we knew it no longer exists.
ReplyDeleteSome departments had their management ranks shredded during the last round, including features, business and photo, which went from 10 to 5 managers. The fact that Metro/News had one token management cut last time and none this time is absolutely shocking. This proves to me this mess is not going to get fixed, no way, no how.
ReplyDeleteThe same goes for editorial, where one clerk/admin who carried a heavy load was the only one let go. There has been lots of talk recently whether editorial boards are even relevant in the current times. Since we're in full crisis mode, why were they totally protected at the expense of young reporters who were the future of this newspaper?
It seems like a lot of promising young minority reporters were RIFd in Metro yesterday, does anyone know the breakdown? If indeed they are replaced by some crusty old white guy ex-editor, seems like the great opportunity for a successful lawsuit. Good luck to you all.
ReplyDeleteDid anyone hear if our bloated, self-important HR department took any hits? If not, they should be next on the list. Our newsroom is half what it was two years ago yet their ranks have continued to grow.
ReplyDeleteNews alum here again. Interesting how similar the pattern is between our bloated newspaper companies. After no one in higher than assistant editor level at my paper was laid off in a recent round of cuts, talk was that management would of course be reassigned to the reporting ranks, take layoff hits later etc etc.
ReplyDeleteIt's just talk. Hasn't happened.
Also, our minority reporters took a huge layoff hit. And the RIF here wasn't based on seniority.
Good luck, people. Along with everything else, this is a life lesson in how completely management sets itself apart from the rank and file.
What happened to the all-important "span of contol?"
ReplyDeleteThere will be no satisfying explanation to this question because it does not make sense.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous at 7:04 AM questions why editorial was protected at the expense of news reporting.
ReplyDeleteThe answer is that opinions are inherently less expensive than researched fact and that, absent active management direction and control, the natural passive tendency is for what remains of us after the cuts to morph/devolve into an opinion blog. When our revenue ultimately becomes a function of nothing much more than the number of "hits" we get, whatever produces the most of those becomes what we do. This is what has made talk radio consistently profitable and is what will do the same for us, too.
Here is another fair question: Why does the direction of the paper keep changing every 12 months?
ReplyDeleteMoroney's e-mail made him seem more entrenched in the print than ever before and resigned to give up on the Web. I thought the Web was our future.
You ask why does the direction of the paper changes every 12 months? Simple. They don't what the heck they're doing. I wish they'd almost admit it.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I never understood about the DMN is why they never seek input from their own employees -- the journalists, the advertisting representatives, etc. Instead of blowing money on the Bain group or whatever idiot consulting firm they're using, why not ask employees? The journalists and advertising folks are the ones who KNOW their communities, their sources, etc. If anything, they're the ones who probably have a whole lot better understanding of the needs/desires/ of the readers.
To clarify, I left out a word in the above paragraph. They don't know what the heck they're doing
ReplyDeleteIn Metro, 11 were cut, 9 were women, 3 were Hispanic women, 1 was an African American woman (the only minority reporter in her section), 1 was an Asian woman (her section now has one minority), 1 was a Hispanic male. Of those 11, half were in their 20's and 30's and made less than half of what managers make. I am under 30, Hispanic and female and am now the only non-manager in my section. I'm now the only minority in my section and currently make less than some interns. I see the writing on the wall. But it makes me sick to see managers justify this. My paycheck isn't worth working for a company like this. Passion for journalism can be taken to other places. If you feel like me, you need to think about why it is you're still working at the DMN and who it is you're working for. What they did was wrong.
ReplyDeleteWe really, REALLY need to tally up the breakdown by sex and minority status, because something is very wrong here. And before some people sign their severence sheets, we should, as journalists, get to the bottom of it. Let's pretend its the school board and do the legwork. There's a story here.
ReplyDeleteAnon 12:44: nine of the 11 axed in Metro are younger than 40. I would also guess that eight of the 11, possibly more, made less than 40k.
ReplyDeleteThis smells.