Thursday, July 21, 2011

The return of Spartacus

Never wanted to come back here but I left the blog active. Looks like there's need again.

Rumors of another round of layoffs started seriously circulating several weeks ago. I do not have anything like hard evidence but there is a lot of smoke. Here is what I've heard so far.

As some of us know, there have been isolated layoffs in non-newsroom positions in recent weeks. The rumors say that the newsroom is also going to face cuts. Editors may be more in danger than reporters. And production editors may be more in danger.

That is because Newsgate lets line editors do much more production than had been possible under the old CCI. It is possible that management believes that fewer editors are needed to put out the paper.

This does not mean that other positions are safe.

It is possible that none of this is true. This will be a place where people who know better and want to share will be able to let the rest of us know.

One other consistent rumor is that this layoff will not the same as the last ones. Instead of an announced date where the cuts will happen, if the rumors are right, these will happen when they happen. That would mean no warning and no way to know if they're over.

What kind of severance package would be involved?

Rules for the resurrected DMNcuts blog are the same as the last time. You can comment, and comment anonymously. But do not name anybody other than yourself. Personal insults will not be tolerated. If you want to send information to me directly, the email address is dmncuts(at)gmail.com

(Erm. Update: Comments will be welcome as soon as I can figure out why I can't reactivate the comments. Meanwhile, the email address works.)

(Another update: With a little help from my friends, comments are now enabled.)