Another One Bites the Dust

It was Dan Rubin, not Will Bunch, who blogged about the most recent layoffs at the Inquirer. In a moving piece, Here Today, Rubin says:

Most of the names have gotten out by now, but little scenes, watched from across the newsroom, fill in the blanks. The home and design writer arrives with an empty cardboard box, here to pick up her things. She got word late Tuesday. Same with the fine arts editor. "I'm not sure what's next," he says, working his way past five writers. Each one one hugs him. "I'm getting the hell out of here," says a columnist. And she's actually staying. She was venting. Everyone's venting.

There are 68 members of the Inquirer newsroom being laid off. Jobs were found for another five - four at Philly.com, and one caught on with the Daily News. Some editors called in their people for closed-door sessions. Other learned by phone after work. Appointments were made with in human resources, attended by both those laid off and those who had to lay them off.

At the same time, little bursts of noise draw crowds around those whose positions were somehow saved. There's a lot of talk around the place today of survivor's guilt.

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A young writer was wondering how she'd manage. The amazing thing, I told her, is that I'd never run into anyone who'd left the newspaper who didn't look younger and healthier the next time I saw them.

The Comments, including some from journalists and former reporters, are also compelling and worth a reading.

In The Latest Buzz: Rancor Reigns in Philly as 'Inky' Cuts Deep, Editor & Publisher notes:

This afternoon a rancorous thread was set in motion when Buzz Bissinger -- the author off "Friday Night Lights" and a former Pulitzer winner at the Inky -- offered a smackdown of two well-paid, but allegedly unproductive, writers at the paper who are keeping their jobs (but hardly need the money): ESPN TV and radio host Stephen A. Smith and mega-selling author John Grogan. . . . What he wrote inspired other incisive or entertaining comments that bear a good look.

Romenesko provides a summary of the Buzz Bissinger comment/response:

Stephen A. Smith (left) and John Grogan "have both hit the jackpot in other realms and could care less about what they write for the paper," writes Buzz Bissinger, a former Inky staffer. "They both mail their columns in now. Smith is preoccupied with his ESPN show and is apparently never in the city he allegedly covers. Grogan is mired in the gooey syrup that made 'Marley and Me' such a hit and has never shown any knowledge of the region whatsoever. Neither deserve jobs at the Inquirer as it so desperately struggles, nor do they need the money." (Low in comments section.) Inky media reporter Joseph DiStefano responds: "You're not just nasty-jealous, you're also outta touch (and outta town) if you don't see the value Smith and Grogan still bring to this newspaper." DiStefano mentions that he's leaving the paper.

Shaun Mullen, a former Daily News reporter who writes at Kiko's House, also weighed in at Media: Another Funeral in Philadelphia, noting that "the sad saga of Philadelphia’s two newspapers is worth telling and reflecting on." Mullen describes the tale of the Inquirer's in detail and adds:

Although newspapers are leading agents of change, they have been slow to embrace change themselves. This is nowhere more evident than with the Internet and blogosphere, and the websites of the Inky and News are good examples of the change-averse culture that still permeates their newsrooms despite the gun that they have had to their heads for quite some time now.

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Part of this malaise is (again) the fault of Tony Ridder, but in fairness it has a whole lot more to do with the world outside the newsrooms of the two papers, which has been changing at a speed that most newspaper editors have neither recognized nor appreciated.

Among the changes are the death of the evening newspaper and the emergence of cable news channels and the 24/7 news cycle, but the biggest change is the Internet. I've been tracking my own changing websurfing habits over the five years since I left the News.

Back then, I visited three or four blogs and 15 or 20 newspaper websites a day. Today I visit 30 to 40 blogs and perhaps five newspaper sites. I still buy the dead-tree edition of the Sunday New York Times because it remains a great deal even at $5 a pop and it feels good to hold a newspaper in my hands. Oh, the nostalgia!

I must admit that my reading habits are similar to Mullen's. At one point in my life, I read at least 5 papers a day. At time went on and life got busy, I read 2-3 papers. Now I read 1, maybe 2, with the rest of my news coming from the internet -- with the blog/newspaper site ratio having evolved like Mullen has.

It's also hard to believe that it was only 7 months ago that Brian Tierney & his cohorts bought the Philly papers. When they did, there were all sorts of promises made about "local" ownership, see The Good News and Bad News. At the time, Suburban Guerrilla inquired whether the new owners were "Saviors, or insect overlords?" I guess we now have the answer.

Clearly there needs to be changes in the newspaper industry. But it needs to be saved. We need the news to inform us of the events of the day. Now more than ever. Especially in an environment where government hoards information and exalts secrecy. Commentary is also necessary to inform us of the range of opinions on the pressing issues of the day. Most bloggers are like me, scanners of news to post on items of interest. Journalists and reporters (including a few blogger/journalists) do the job of finding the news and conveying it.

This video clip from Real Time with Bill Maher, No Bottom, is also worth seeing. In a discussion of the role of the media, activist/musician Tom Morello says "Greed Knows No Bottom," regarding corporate ownership of the media. Morello and Maher are part of a discussion with Richard Dreyfuss (and correspondent Dana Priest) on journalism and the fourth estate.

Tags: Philadelphia, Philly, News & Media, Journalism