No more rumors

With no way to know if they are real or trolls, I have had enough. I believe that posting rumors is causing more harm than good.  I will continue to post possible jobs in the area if anybody wants to share them. I will continue to allow discussions in the comments that meet my guidelines.

If Tuesday is Cut Day, or if or whenever it happens,  I will post whatever I am sent about numbers and departments. Do not assume that I have some backdoor pipeline to management. I do not. The only reason this blog served us well the last time was that many people shared real information they had.  By the end of that first day, we had collectively assembled the list you see to the right, needing only minor adjustments. Do post comments or send me emails. 

I will also post any messages from those who have lost jobs that they want to share with us. The farewells from last time are archived on a link to the right.

If the layoffs do happen and are anything as large as some of the chatter, there is a special place in Hell for whoever in HR or the legal department or whatever other layer of the corporation decided this was a good way to do this, shared by whichever of the top bosses agreed and issued the orders to stay silent.  We in the newsroom are journalists, from the copy editors to the researchers to the photo editors to the line editors to the photographers to the reporters to anybody I have left out. Journalists have a need to know set deep in our DNA. All of the previous layoffs, the bosses gave us enough advance notice to let us plan and to satisfy some of that inbred curiosity.  To leave us this time with nothing but rumors that have been impossible to validate was a needless cruelty.

Why could you not have been as informative as the last four rounds. Acknowledge publicly that cuts are coming. Say that you expect to have them completed by some approximate date. Or if the rumors are all false, say something about that. There are legal limits to what can be released. We are not stupid. But you certainly could have told us this time what you told us in the past.

There are no good ways to do this that will not cause pain and leave horrible scars. The first round of layoffs years ago where people were escorted out of the building in a few minutes was needlessly painful. So is this. 

Anybody who disagrees with anything here is welcome to comment.

Happy Labor Day.

Looks like the newsroom has survived another full week of paydays

On the other hand, two commenters in the past few minutes have said that Tuesday is the day:

Newsroom cuts are happening Tuesday. The lawyers signed off on everything faster than they were expected to do so. Number should be around 40 cut. If you're offered the opportunity to take on a new role by your manager, you'd be wise not to roll the dice.

 And

I hear the newsroom is getting hit on Tuesday of next week (September 6th).

 If true, I think that somebody else has already noted the bitter irony of firing people the day after Labor Day.  Have a good weekend. If anybody has actual information to share, I will be moderating the comments and checking for emails.

Commenters say there were RIFs at the North Plant

Commenters say several production jobs were cut today.

"Plano/Dallas layout guys. I know of three, heard of more, but couldn't confirm."

About the newsroom, other than the reports about RIF training, I have nothing and more nothing. 

Comment on a post earlier today says managers got layoff training today

Anybody out there got an amen? Or can say it isn't so?

(We now have one comment with possible confirmation. Circumstantial evidence.) 

A place to fling virtual monkey poop

A couple of days ago, I put down an uncivil comment by explaining that this was not a place to fling monkey poop. Poop tossers, I said, can find their own place on the Internet. Someone did. He calls himself Antoninus. I guess he is a movie fan. The name of the blog is Flinging Monkey Poop.  He sent me an email. Quoting here:

Here are the rules: Nothing that could get me sued. And make it entertaining. The only judge will be me. All comments will be moderated before posting.  Scatology and vulgarities are allowed in the interest of yuks. Think Jon Stewart without the bleeps.  And while I'm starting it as a place to vent about DMN bosses, anyone can play. Tell your friends!

Have a good time.

More relaxing reading while waiting for the inevitable

From Mother Jones:

On a bright spring day in a wisteria-bedecked courtyard full of earnest, if half-drunk, conference attendees, we were commiserating with a fellow journalist about all the jobs we knew of that were going unfilled, being absorbed or handled "on the side." It was tough for all concerned, but necessary—you know, doing more with less.
"Ah," he said, "the speedup."

Points printed an edited version this past Sunday. (And kudos to the editor with the intestinal fortitude to make that a cover story in the DMN the week or so before the whatever whatevers. May her tribe increase.)  Here is the full version. 

A different management approach to hard times

FRESNO, Calif. - Some people give a bit back to their community. Then there’s Fresno County School Superintendent Larry Powell, who is giving back $800,000, his compensation for the next three years.

Until his term expires in 2015, Powell will run 325 schools and 35 school districts with 195,000 students, all for less than a starting California teacher earns.

“How much do we need to keep accumulating?’’ asks Powell, 63. “There’s no reason for me to keep stockpiling money.’’

Full story here. 

And an eerie silence covers the land

Unless somebody out there tells me different, looks like the newsroom ends another full week of paychecks. Which I realize is no solace for our ad-side colleagues who lost jobs yesterday. Have a good weekend and be thankful we aren't in the Hurricane Irene bulls-eye. It can always be worse.

Smoke 'em if you've got 'em

As the saying goes. We've got a break in the action. I've not heard even a whisper about whether today's layoffs mean anything about whether more will come tomorrow. The most definitive count I've been given for today is from a comment on the previous post:

The advertising side lost 16 dedicated, creative and enterprising workers today. They deserve support and appreciation, which is more than they ever got from management.

I don't know if anyone from marketing was also let go.  I also do not know what positions were affected, if any were managers.

Layoffs today in advertising and marketing

Multiple sources report layoffs. One commenter here says "8 so far."  I do not know if there have been more since that comment was posted.  (Another now says "17 or 18.")

The purpose of this blog has been to report newsroom events. However, if anybody from other departments who has been RIFed wants to post a farewell here, you are welcome to post a comment or send me an email.

Does this mean newsroom cuts are also set for this week? Which would mean tomorrow. Based on my lousy track record from last week I refuse to speculate, but if anybody out there thinks they know, we'd all appreciate any information..