I hear yah....there's always the Louisville Courier Urinal...81 mi to the west / same quality of 'RAT Rag.
Your right....Karaoke Journalist: now that one’s a keeper. 
Posted on 08/11/2008 2:45:21 PM PDT by abb
The Lexington Herald-Leader on Monday offered a voluntary buyout program to its full-time employees.
Noting that the newspaper industry's traditional business model is undergoing dramatic change, Publisher Timothy M. Kelly said in a memo to employees that “the economy continues to worsen, and we must make the painful choice to reduce expenses further.”
Kelly said it is premature to set a target for the number of buyouts or to say whether layoffs will follow if a certain number of employees fail to leave voluntarily.
“We may limit the number of voluntary applications we accept given business needs or to ensure that no one area of the operation is unfairly impacted,” he said in the memo.
“We will evaluate the number of employees leaving under the voluntary program; how work will be streamlined, reallocated and consolidated; and what additional expense reductions may still be necessary. Then we will determine if additional staff reductions must be made through an involuntary severance program.”
Those accepting the buyout will receive severance pay and a continuation of health benefits. The last day for most accepting the package would be Aug. 29.
In June, the Herald-Leader downsized its work force through buyouts and layoffs. It went from the equivalent of almost 417 full-time employees in May to about 382 in July.
Kelly said the Herald-Leader continues to be profitable, although “we are not as profitable as we have been in the past.”
Even after the current round of buyouts, Kelly said the Herald-Leader will remain the largest news-gathering organization in Central Kentucky, and through the paper and Kentucky.com, it will reach more readers and viewers than ever before.
ping
KY. Ping. :)
http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/freshloaf/2008/08/11/ajc-editors-mum-on-sudden-departures/
AJC editors mum on sudden departures
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=781283
Careers end early, and it’s personal
http://blogs.tampabay.com/media/2008/08/roster-of-those.html
Roster of those departing the St. Petersburg Times so far...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/aug/11/pressandpublishing1/print
Paper cuts
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080811/mcclatchy_classified_ventures.html?.v=1
McClatchy cuts value of Classified Ventures stake
http://newsosaur.blogspot.com/
Default-O-Matic update: TribCo at most risk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/aug/11/pressandpublishing1/print
“Backup “Plan B”s abounded. Everything from writing books and seeking university posts to more dire prospects, such as becoming a colourfully-vested Wal-Mart greeter.”
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2008/08/palm_beach_post_farewells.php
No Goodbye For Post Columnist
Alright, would you please stop insulting “colourfully-vested Wal-Mart greeters? ;)
Back to reality, does anyone know hom many jobs have been sliced by Dinosaur Media outlets? It has almost become boring to see more and more newspapers and television stations slash their payrolls. Please keep in mind I have said, “Almost.”
http://newsosaur.blogspot.com/2008/07/deeper-staff-cuts-likely-at-newspapers.html#comments
our news-gathering companies are stumbling to extinction
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Deeper staff cuts likely at newspapers
Tens of thousands of additional jobs may have to be eliminated at newspapers because the staff reductions that have taken place to date have not kept pace with the accelerating erosion of advertising.
Even though 48.7% of the 102,120 jobs eliminated in the newspaper industry since 1990 were lost in the last three years, publishers since 2006 have failed to reduce headcount as aggressively as they did during prior downturns, according to an analysis of the industry’s historic performance.
To trim headcount enough to sustain traditional profit margins, publishers would have to eliminate far more jobs in the near future than they did in the last two years. How many more? That’s hard to say, because it is impossible to predict how much lower industry sales will fall.
But the analysis described below suggests that the industry should have eliminated nearly twice as many jobs as the combined 26,564 positions axed in 2006 and 2007. Thus, precedent suggests that the industry in the last two years should have abolished 23,580 more jobs than it actually did.
snip
Journalism's statesmen and academics may differ, but many reporters have concluded that the fault is neither in our stars, nor in ourselves - but in our audience. Middle-aged readers say other media now trump newspapers. But more and more, reporters mutter, Americans - especially younger people - choose apathy and superficiality, the luxury of living in a normally prosperous superpower. If they want any information, they can get it from blogs - the hobbyist, derivative haven for karaoke journalists.
Karaoke Journalist: now that one’s a keeper...
No one left to buy those buggy whips, eh Gaurdian?
Shame on the buying public.
.....the economy continues to worsen.....
I recently visited a business in nearby Richmond KY and they were shipping astuff as fast as it could be delivered.
It’s not the economt stupid
Hopefully this means the UK hating Jerry Tipton will be canned.
Another one to keep an eye on, possibly related: Though the Vincennes, Indiana afternoon rag [AKA the Scum-Comical to locals] claims they're not closing shop [which given there record for truth and accuracy means there's a fair chance that they will] they have shut down their print shop, and are now having the paper printed in Owensboro, Kentucky, about a 2-hour drive away.
Formerly, the VSC was an *evening* paper, with a go-to-bed time of about noon. The printshop change likely means that they'll now be delivering today's news tomorrow:
8/10/2008 2:03:00 AM
Rumors to the contrary, the Sun-Commercial, Indiana's oldest newspaper, is not closing and will continue to serve its readers and their communities as it has for more than 200 years.
Nor will future decisions about the content of the newspaper be made by someone in Owensboro, Ky. - another rumor we've heard this week.
Those decisions will continue to be made at 702 Main St. And when there is a problem, or when readers have a complaint, they will still be able to come to our office and meet with Publisher Vickie K. Palmer or Managing Editor Gayle R. Robbins.
What is changing is that in the next few weeks readers will have more to read in their copies of the Sun-Commercial - a wider variety of features as well greater depth of national and international coverage of news and events.
In addition, there will be more local content generated by staff here. We will continue to be the major source of news in our area, to write that "first draft of history" about the people and goings-on in our communities.
That is, after all, our business.
The only problem I see is this: What am I going to use for the bird cage if the Herald-Leader goes under? My parrot goes through those little “alternative newspapers” too quickly.
Good riddence to the Geraldo Leader, no loss there if it goes.
Your right....Karaoke Journalist: now that one’s a keeper.
In the context of the whole article - by a reporter who after all is himself recently laid off - it is only fair to note that he does offer other explanations first.Americans - especially younger people - choose apathy and superficiality, the luxury of living in a normally prosperous superpower. If they want any information, they can get it from blogs - the hobbyist, derivative haven for karaoke journalists.His problem is of course that Establishment journalism is itself defined by short deadlines and self-interestedness which mark it as being as "superficial" as what he so blithely criticizes. And of course the mirror is an excellent place for him to find someone whose worldview is colored by the "ease" of living somewhere far removed from what looks to be soon again "soviet" Georgia.
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