Hearne Christopher, Jr.,Fifty employees reportedly got their pink slips today.
Jeffrey Flanagan
Laura Scott
Lee Judge
Angela Curry
Alan Holder
Greg Clark
Les Weatherford
John Shultz
Tony Balandran
Monroe Dodd
Jeanne Meyer
Mike Casey
John Schultz
Kevin Hoffman
Stan Austin
Allen Holder
Kit Wagar
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Report: 50 will be laid off at the Kansas City Star
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12 comments:
Is this isolated to KC? Or are other MNI properties going to take a hit before thanksgiving?
McClatchy (MNI) is running on fumes. They will have to declare bankruptcy before the end of the first quarter next year. They may not make it that long.
Walter Abbott
McClatchy forced the hand of the Star after asking them to cut an additional several million dollars out of the 2009 budget after it was submitted.
The only real option left was to find employees who saleries were high enough to make these cuts work, and after years of cutting elsewhere the only real option was it seems the news division.
There's still the issue of some of their finance employees who are being outsourced in the first quarter of 2009.
Given the news of Randy Smith leaving the Star to work for the Wall Street Journal, I'm curious to know the feelings of the effected employees in today anouncement as to what role (if any) did he have in who got the boot today.
As long as the stock value keeps falling, it's only a matter of time before other papers will have to keep finding ways to cut expensives.
OK 6:15 did ALL 50 come from the newsroom? No. No more excuses without content you have no paper. Before this last cut it only took about 45 minutes to read the entire Sunday paper. How about cutting some of the good old boy network of dead wood. Their still there making bad decisions.
I wouldn't worry about OTHER newspapers cutting expenses you, can't run your own. Maybe you should take a look at a real one someday. Your left with sports, letters to the editor, and lets not forget pages of obits. We love those obits. Oh and how about printing the blog writers. How much longer do you think people are going to pay for this type of product?
Boy are you right 6:30 about their love of "OBITS". Now they can really have the dead writing their paper.
"The only real option left was to find employees who saleries were high enough to make these cuts work, and after years of cutting elsewhere the only real option was it seems the news division."
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Yet they maintained their political propagandists like Whitlock, who's salary is the same as any 10 reporters combined. Then there is Hendricks, Pepper, Diuguid, and Shelly. Combine those salaries and you can afford 20 more reporters, an ad department, a few pressmen and a competent supervisor who can make sure they're not running yesterday's plates....
After that, they can get rid of their useless Apologist/Excuse Maker/Todie and part times sales girl Derek Donovan. God only knows how worthless he is. He actually thought it was funny that they sold thousands of copies of waste today and told customers who got ripped off to check online. One hell of a way to bump your hit count.
So, please, tell me again how firing the peons were the only option. The people that they fired today except for 4 were nobodys, not making squat.
It's the management and the poor sap 6:15 bought the story or he is the management and trying to sell it.
Smith was the designated bad guy for the metro desk peon flushing. He was also one of the escorts for several other firings. He knew he was history and so did the chaff that is still there, so, there you have his role in the whole mess. No part other than enforcement and taking the blame.
He probably got a letter of introduction from Zieman and a sniff of his foo foo rag that Rhonda packs in his lunch pail.
7:54 Maybe he went to WSJ to help them with the purchase of the Star building.
That is not unheard of. In fact, that very thing happens often, but, don't get your hopes too high. There are more downside possibilities than upside ones for the WSJ.
On the other hand, were I the WSJ and wanting to expand my production capabilities, the Star would be the one I would trim out.
That really is one sweet production facility. It even tops the Houston Chronicle which has been the test bed for innovation for years.
Yes the Print Plant is tops but the problem is they print a paper that nobody wants.
Randy Smith did not, fortunately or unfortunately, leave The Star for the WSJ. (The WSJ has another person named Randall Smith.) The Star's Randy Smith is still upstairs shuffling paper, getting an undeserved paycheck.
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