Posted on 08/18/2008 11:03:02 AM PDT by abb
Paper "Is Where Minority Reporters Can Go to Die"
The Chicago Tribune laid off more than 40 newsroom employees on Friday, including a disproportionate number of journalists of color, according to newsroom employees there.
"Coupled with last week's voluntary exit of more than 30 journalists," the additional cutback "means the paper has cut 80 people from its editorial staff as part of cost-cutting campaign at all of parent Tribune Co.'s newspapers," Phil Rosenthal wrote on the Tribune's Web site.
Among those called in Friday and told their jobs were eliminated was Ray Quintanilla, a 14-year Tribune veteran. "It's sad because if you look at the list, it's heavily minority. It looks bad," he told Journal-isms. He said his marching orders came a day after he challenged a powerful white Tribune columnist who for the fifth time had hired a white assistant, asking the columnist if he had considered any people of color. He recalled that owner Sam Zell had told employees to question authority.
Quintanilla said the columnist publicly challenged him to a fight, and said he has filed a complaint with the Tribune's human relations department.
The reporter said he could not prove his layoff was related to the Thursday incident, but said, "It just smells bad to me."
Neither the columnist nor Tribune editor Gerould W. Kern could be reached for comment.
Other departing journalists of color included Norman O. Unger, an assistant editor; Mark Hinojosa, assistant managing editor for multimedia; Paul Iwanaga, a photo editor; Michael Martinez, Los Angeles correspondent; Gentry Sleets, graphic artist; and editors Donna Pierce, Emeri B. O'Brien and Jeffrey Williams, among others, according to a list compiled by religion writer Manya Brachear and other newsroom sources.
Hinojosa's exit follows the departure earlier this year of another high-ranking Latino at the newspaper, George de Lama, the Tribune's managing editor for news.
"I was looking forward to earning my 20-year pin in about 6 months, but alas: POOOOOFFFFFF. . . and he's gone with lots of great memories," Unger said in a note to colleagues.
"To all my friends," read the subject line in an e-mail from Williams. "Who have been family for nearly 20 years," his message began, "especially those on the copy desk and in the DuPage bureau, take care. And remember who you are: the world’s greatest journalists and the finest human beings I’ve ever known."
"'Endings are never easy,' Tribune editor Gerould W. Kern said in a note to staff, adding that 'with the departure of 80 individuals through today, the editorial staff of the Chicago Tribune stands at 480, the largest news organization in Chicago by a wide margin and one of the largest and most accomplished in the United States,'" Rosenthal's story continued. "'While painful, these staff reductions are necessary to establish the foundation for a sustainable future.'
"The latest round of cutbacks is the paper's fourth since late 2005, when the newsroom was said to have had 670 positions. Other departments at the paper have been making cuts, as well.'
Quintanilla, 46, said he expected more from the paper after he returned from covering Iraq in the early days of the war, which began in 2003. "The Tribune is where minority reporters can go to die. They get lost in the bureaucracy and they're ignored," he told Journal-isms.
All your base are belong to us of the Fifth Estate.New LAT publisher speaks
... I took this job because I firmly believe that we, the women and men of the Los Angeles Times, can show the rest of the world how the Fourth Estate can not only survive, but thrive in the 21st century. ...
... But I firmly believe people still want the moral compass that journalists at their best provide. In other words, truth, justice and the exclusive quote. ...Fifth Estaters demand truth, justice and the American way.
abb to Milhous; Grampa Dave
Milhous, do you remember when you and I had those conversations about ‘book value’ and ‘goodwill’ and how the newspapers were but a hollow gourd of value and that they would have to have huge writedowns on their balance sheets? That was almost two years ago.
Tell me why we didn’t take Grampa Dave’s advice and short those stocks back then.”
Shortly after the 2004 elections, I started shedding mutual funds which had raves from the liberals posing as investment gurus. It was amazing how many of the loser funds held large amounts of the dinosaur fishwraps and other parts of the MSM.
I think that I started using the term Enronning their share holders and advertisers, to describe these losers about 2 years ago.
Besides the mutual funds, how much of these worthless stocks have been gobbled up by state retirement funds, crappy IRA/401 K’s and other retirement funds?
“I firmly believe people still want the moral compass that journalists at their best provide. In other words, truth, justice and the exclusive quote. ...”
What an oxymoron, moral compass, re journalists.
“Real estate (Office buildings, printing press buildings, etc) is in a downswing and the printing presses themselves are worth only scrap prices (about $0.10/lb.)”
Oil prices, the cost of driving to and from work, and the screams of the green whackos will probably drive down the value of most downtown office buildings.
With powerful home and portable computers and the internet, there is no real need for the daily drive from the suburbs to the downtown offices to sit at a dumb computer connected to a server for 8 hours. The job can be done at home or in a park or a McD with a portable and the WiFi connections.
I have many younger and well paid relatives, who could do their jobs at home most of the time. A large part of their days are computer driven and phone driven.
Meetings are becoming astronomically expensive if one has to fly, get cabs, stay at a hotel and eat out and repeat the process to get back home.
.....and phone driven.....
I communicate with a number of young women. They just don’t use the phone. It’s e mail or forget it. They won’t answer voice mail.
Amen Brother: “
That’s it. Journalists provide an immoral compass. Moral people ought to go in the opposite direction.”
Whenever, we have any doubt about any critical issue, wait until the mediots start their lies and spins and believe in the opposite of what they are telling us.
“I communicate with a number of young women. They just don’t use the phone. It’s e mail or forget it. They won’t answer voice mail.”
Another good reason to keep my trophy wife. She refuses to use her email account at work and doesn’t have one on our home computer. She doesn’t have an answer machine for her unlisted land line phone.
When I finally retired. I destroyed my old cell phone. No one but my family has my current cell number, and I refuse to answer messages on it. If they can’t catch me live, I will see, who called me. If the caller is a relative, I will call them when I see who is listed on the missed call list.
http://www.buffalonews.com/258/story/417514.html
The News offering buyouts to 107 employees
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/375441_newspaperprice19.html
Seattle Times, P-I will raise price to 75 cents
Didja ever buy that Russia fund? Wasn't it an ETF? I think it was a John Hancock sector fund, or something... It sure was a big hit!!!
Don't anyone buy it now!!! Not till they git outta Dodge (Georgia)!!!
Cheer up! A window of opportunity remains open to profitably short broadcast stocks.
FR's Warren Buffet strikes again....
“FR’s Warren Buffet strikes again....”
I got rid of any mutual fund with Fannie or Freddie bonds and stock a little before Warren did.
They were a good ride for the Clintoon years particuliarly when the stock market crashed during the Toon’s last year.
“Didja ever buy that Russia fund? Wasn’t it an ETF? I think it was a John Hancock sector fund, or something... It sure was a big hit!!!”
My grandfather and God Father taught me to never invest in nor buy from enemies both present and past.
Even Jack Kennedy once said: "Love your enemies, but never forget their names!" And they beat up on Richard Nixon for making up an "enemies list!"
I guess there are just a lot of different things the Dems can get clean away with, that Repubs just cannot do under any circumstances, right???
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