Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Raleigh newspaper says goodbye to 31 employees today... front page mockup by N&O employees ridicules "Captain Gary"

An anonymous employee at the News & Observer emailed me with this update:
The News & Observer lost 31 more people today... The newsroom staff has gone from 245 a couple years ago to about 130 as of today. A big cut for a paper that, as a stand alone product, remains profitable.

The employee passed along a mockup N&O front page that was done as a tribute to the employees who are leaving... the feature article in the mockup -- written by I. Ben Whacked -- is a pretty funny article about Captain Pruitt and the RMS McClatchy.

Here is how Romenesko describes the mockup:
A mock front page created for the 31 News & Observer staffers who are leaving the paper today explains that the RMS McClatchy -- one of the largest newspaper steamships in the world -- "was welded together from the hulls of several old steamships, including a leaky tub called the RMS Knight Ridder." Eventually, the steamship hit an iceberg and began to take on water. "Capt. Gary asked for volunteers who would like to go for a swim and then extended the plank."


You can see it here.
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Photo credit: goodnightraleigh.com

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16 comments:

Anonymous said...

What's with the "1A, SATURDAY, MARCH 14, 2009" at the bottom of the mock-up?

Sad.

Anonymous said...

Classic Pruitt nautical images...

Anonymous said...

Bye, Bye! Meet for tea some time?

Anonymous said...

Libs could find a way to run a car into the toilet bowel

Anonymous said...

HEADS UP.

Fox juste reported that the photos of Obama talking with Hugo Chavez (not the handshake photos, the serious photos from a cell phone) had Chavez passing along info on "torture" at Gitmo. Obama may use to investigate/prosecute Bush adm. officials, up to and including Donald Rummsfeld.

"It could end with Rumsfeld in prison" one Obama aide was quoted as saying.

Good God. Hugo Chavez is running our country.

Anonymous said...

The March 14 date means Teresa Kreigsman worked on that page from the March 14 templates. Oops! Still, it's a decent farewell in that circumstance. I've seen much finer going away pages from that place, but was surprised to even see it done at all this time.
Interesting to see the Melanie dig. People were not fond of her and have no trouble saying it. Dig on one of the others most hated newsroom employee spotted. But nothing against Linda?

Anonymous said...

To all those departing.....

......Ho hum.

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't make the assumption that Teresa had anything to do with the design of the page. The originator of the real page template for that day doesn't necessarily indicate the designer who would use that page template to build a going-away page. That's standard procedure for any of us who've worked on going away pages.

Anonymous said...

MORE GREAT NEWS

New York Times Cash Situation Still Critical (Business Insider)

As expected, the New York Times's business operations began burning cash this quarter (until now, they had remained cash-flow positive).

The company has recently made several wise moves that have postponed the date at which it will run out of cash. But the situation is still critical.

At the current rate of cash consumption, assuming no one-time expenses (highly unlikely), we estimate that the company will max out its current borrowing capacity in 4 quarters.

Anonymous said...

Will the last reporter out the door turn out the lights. The editors don't know where the light switches are. See you on the internet.

Walt-in-Durham

Anonymous said...

Yeah! Finally a group of employees who stand up and express their opinion to the powers that be. That's what our newsroom was about. Also, thanks to those outside of the newsroom who left today. We had many talented employees in Advertising, IS, Finance, Circulation, etc. I hope Pruitt gets to see this mock-up.

John Altevogt said...

How unfortunate that McClatchey is allowed to steal from your community to try and salvage the incompetents elsewhere in their holdings.

This is a disgrace and it's unfortunate that the citizens of a community can't get the standing to sue corporations that are damaging their communities.

Anonymous said...

Teresa did it. You can look at the fonts and tell. Plus, I know it for a fact. She did a fabulous job, as per usual.

Anonymous said...

Did you guys see Howard Weaver's comments on the page on the Poynter site? Wow. I knew he was a jerk, but man, this makes Satan seem caring.

Anonymous said...

Amen, 7:23.

He comes across as a defensive, selfish ass. He should just keep quiet.

Anonymous said...

Howard Weaver is as clueless now as he was three years ago. He has been out of touch with reality and hasn't a clue as to how a REAL newspaper works. He and Boy Blunder Pruitt love to take credit for any and all the good things the papers produce but point fingers in every direction but themselves for the situation they have put us in. I hope they both burn in Hell....the sooner the better.