tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514703016498961093.post2497189170488989928..comments2024-01-21T13:41:55.986-05:00Comments on The Real Muck: Newspaper weights and measuresDavid Ettlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00858701708865222941noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514703016498961093.post-80057241730124929752009-05-26T19:44:39.388-04:002009-05-26T19:44:39.388-04:00I don't think WJZ has taken the hint yet. I am si...I don't think WJZ has taken the hint yet. I am sick of hearing them pimping out a failing news paper. "According to our media partner, The Baltimore Sun...". Here's one for you: "According to the loyal, hard-working staff that was laid off from The Baltimore Sun - Up yours!"<br />Having a relative that was recently laid off from The Sun, I can say that was a direct quote.fnchck1https://www.blogger.com/profile/16726089819048944033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514703016498961093.post-69263600807664264782009-05-06T17:33:00.000-04:002009-05-06T17:33:00.000-04:00MORE THAN 50 BALTIMORE SUN NEWSROOM STAFF MEMBERS ...MORE THAN 50 BALTIMORE SUN NEWSROOM STAFF MEMBERS LAUNCH BYLINE STRIKE PROTESTING JOB CUTS AND HEAVY HANDED TACTICS BY TRIBUNE<br /><br />Reporters, photojournalists and other newsroom staff members, angered at shabby treatment and Tribune’s dismantling of the paper, say no to bylines.<br /> <br />BALTIMORE, Md., May 6, 2009 –More than 50 Baltimore Sun newsroom staff members, including reporters, photographers and other bylined content producers, launched a byline strike today protesting layoffs and heavy handed tactics by owner Tribune Co.<br />Newsroom staff members informed their managers today that they would withhold their bylines to protest last week’s surprise layoffs of roughly 60 newsroom employees. Tribune, last week, slashed the newsroom by about one third, reducing the staff to 148 employees, a fraction of what it was in 1999 when the Chicago-based company acquired The Sun, which then boasted a newsroom staff of about 420 employees.<br />Some employees last week were fired while they were in the midst of writing and editing stories. Others were told to pack up their belongings immediately, and others were escorted out of the main newspaper building by security guards.<br />“Tribune’s tactics are deplorable,” said Cet Parks, Executive Director of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild. “Employees who poured their hearts and souls into putting out a great newspaper every day were told to get out and stay out. No fanfare, no thank you, no outplacement help, just hit the streets. Maybe that’s big business Tribune way, but it isn’t right. Through its actions Tribune has demonstrated that it has little regard or respect for its employees.” <br />“These decisions were made without any discussions on alternative costs saving methods,” added Brent Jones, a Sun editor and Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild representative. “We wanted to do something to show our former co workers that we're upset with how they were treated last week. We produce this paper and expect our voices to be heard.”<br />Gus Sentementes, a Sun reporter and Guild representative, said “The wisdom and experience that has left The Sun in this period is shocking. Out of town and out of touch ownership has extracted a heavy toll on the newspaper.”<br />Sentementes criticized Tribune Chairman Sam Zell for miscalculating the accelerating decline in the newspaper industry, jeopardizing The Sun’s future by racking up $13 billion in debt, driving the company into bankruptcy and “degrading our 172 year old institution.”<br />“As we saw so vividly last week, the way our colleagues were so callously treated is not the way one of Baltimore's top corporate citizens and a civic watchdog should treat its own employees,” Sentementes said. <br /> <br />-30-<br />CONTACT:<br /><br />Gus Sentementes<br />Baltimore Sun/Washington Baltimore Newspaper Guild<br />gussentementes@gmail.com<br />443-831-2353<br />NewsOfTheSun.blogspot.com<br />Or<br />Brent Jones,<br />Baltimore Sun/Washington Baltimore Newspaper Guild<br />brent557@gmail.com<br />443-370-9572<br />Or<br />Bill Atkinson,<br />410 558 2100<br />Weber ShandwickBill Atkinsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514703016498961093.post-39087781783386751562009-05-05T02:56:00.000-04:002009-05-05T02:56:00.000-04:00Ettlin:
Just finished catching up with your blog....Ettlin:<br /><br />Just finished catching up with your blog. (As you know, things have been a bit busy in Silver City lately; I wonder how often a town of 10,000 gets covered in the NY Times four days running without having had a natural disaster or mass murder, but it can't be often!)<br /><br />After moving away from Baltimore ten years ago, it has always been hard for me to let go. While living in Va., it was easy for me to stay connected with my hometown, but moving out here to New Mexico in 2003 made it harder to maintain the necessary level of Polock Johnny's sausages and Attman's corn beef sandwiches in my bloodstream. Losing both my parents late last year severed more ties with my former home. Gradually, I have been weaning myself away from news of Baltimore; I used to read the Sun online every morning, but my taste for it has faded. I thought it was my acceptance that I have changed my life as well as my location that caused me to pull away from news of my former home... but now I know that it was also due to more and more of the essence and flavor of the city as conveyed by the Sun being diluted until I just couldn't taste it, or take it, anymore. Being homesick for a place is something I can handle if it happens to me-- but being homesick for a <I>time</I> is harder to deal with. I miss the Sunpapers and all the Sun meant to me, and I salute all the fine people who kept me informed, entertained and advised for so long. It pains me to read about the firings, and it pains me to know that the owners don't want the newspaper to be a newspaper anymore-- they're laying off readers, too.MitchHellmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07049328242740693506noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514703016498961093.post-50947938673735426492009-05-04T19:55:00.000-04:002009-05-04T19:55:00.000-04:00Not a single letter to the editor has been publish...Not a single letter to the editor has been published since April 30.<br />Nothing but tweets.<br />http://pohlaxed.blogspot.com/Stephen Pohlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13241095804692880152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514703016498961093.post-62066627466129716992009-05-04T12:57:00.000-04:002009-05-04T12:57:00.000-04:00Heya Dave.
Excellent reporting over these last fe...Heya Dave.<br /><br />Excellent reporting over these last few days. Thanks for keeping so many people informed and so well-connected to what's happening to our friends and former coworkers.<br /><br />One odd thing I noticed last night after picking my husband up at the airport: There's scaffolding up in front of 501 N. Calvert Street. Right in front of the name and logo of The Sun. Ummm, are they changing the name of the paper? Or spending money to do something to the outside of the building? Or selling the naming rights to The Sun's home office? I don't drive by there that often these days, so maybe it's been up for a while. But I was just curious...<br /><br />~ Jen McMenaminJenMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03753406125423371467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514703016498961093.post-60061262005997670302009-05-04T12:42:00.000-04:002009-05-04T12:42:00.000-04:00Thanks, Bob. Correction made.Thanks, Bob. Correction made.David Ettlinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00858701708865222941noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514703016498961093.post-84438636827681538732009-05-04T12:17:00.000-04:002009-05-04T12:17:00.000-04:00David, the credit line was left off of Chiaki's ph...David, the credit line was left off of Chiaki's photo at her request.Robert Hamiltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10434413957803728712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514703016498961093.post-46482168417133150392009-05-04T10:11:00.000-04:002009-05-04T10:11:00.000-04:00I was laid off from one of the other Tribune prope...I was laid off from one of the other Tribune properties (sorry for the anonymity, but I'm still in the job market), and my heart goes out to everyone in Baltimore.<br /><br />I'm a little late to the table on this, but I've been wondering about something.<br /><br />I have no idea what kind of play the Sun's layoff story received in print, but did anyone else think it was odd that the story was placed so far down on the Sun's website? And that the Sun's own editor wasn't even quoted? And that there was not a word about this (at least that I could see), in the Tribune-owned b, despite the story's obvious importance?<br /><br />And did anyone else think it was odd that when the Tribune-owned Morning Call announced its own staff cuts, the Morning Call put the story far down on the web page and did not allow reader comments (even though it allowed comments on almost all the other stories on the page)?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com