Journal Star fires some people, doesn’t want to admit how many (UPDATED 3x)
Same old, same old at Peoria’s one and only newspaper of record.
Publisher Ken Mauser said, “The layoffs were made in an effort to adapt to the changing nature of the newspaper business.”
Mauser declined to specify the exact number of jobs involved in Thursday’s action. The layoffs are effective immediately. The publisher did say that the personnel moves are part of a plan to strategically reposition the Journal Star.
Two paragraphs of corporate bullshit. Yeah, the “nature” of the newspaper business is changing from one in which the owners of a printing press in a monopoly market could pretty much print money to one in which they had to limit themselves to one yacht. And they are “strategically repositioning” the Journal Star from a somewhat quirky but good daily newspaper into the sort of rag that assigns their top columnist to write about lost dogs.
The names of the fired staffers will start rolling in soon. How the surviving reporters can possibly cover the remaining beats is beyond me. I expect them to eliminate the Monday edition before long, or outsource the copy editing to India.
But hey, the Journal Star might be firing, but Blog Peoria is hiring. I don’t pay anyone, but you can make a few bucks from Google AdSense if you get enough hits.
UPDATE: WEEK is reporting that the unions are reporting five newsroom employees and six from other departments.
UPDATE: I gather that not all of those who’ve been laid off have been notified. So, I’m not going to name any names for now. The union is supposed to be having an emergency meeting tomorrow to discuss wage concessions to prevent additional layoffs.
UPDATE: Reporter Kevin Sampier is among those shown the door. The loss of Circuit City as an advertiser is being cited as one reason for the cuts.
January 23rd, 2009 at 1:26 am
I can’t comment because my obscenities would get me banned from here.
January 23rd, 2009 at 1:34 am
I grant you permission.
January 23rd, 2009 at 2:53 am
Sh*t!
With the exception of perhaps one person in the ’80s, I believe these are the first economic layoffs in the newsroom in 50 years.
I know other papers are experiencing far worse. But they aren’t MY paper. I don’t blame this on local management. I strongly suspect GateHouse is sucking a profitable Journal Star dry to support its massive debt and top management perks.
I never thought I’d miss Henry Pindell Slane so much.
January 23rd, 2009 at 12:57 pm
“The loss of Circuit City as an advertiser is being cited as one reason for the cuts.”
That’s bull.
January 23rd, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Not really, PeoriaIllinoisan. Most newspapers are one large advertiser from being in serious trouble. It sucks, but it’s sadly true.
January 23rd, 2009 at 2:20 pm
It is true. When advertisers start to go bust, it’s a death of a thousand cuts for newspapers. Newspapers were ailing from secular changes before this recession, which couldn’t come at a worst time for the industry.
January 23rd, 2009 at 2:28 pm
That should read “worse time,” which is how it originally read. I should avoid writing while listening to Rod Blagojevich.
January 23rd, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Listening to Blago will warp your brain.
Fine Kettle of Fish will debut “Blagojevich Farewell” at the Venue, 112 S. Main in Washington on the squarer tonight, probably around 7:30.
January 23rd, 2009 at 3:36 pm
I’ll defer to those more knowledgeable than I, but it would seem more plausible if they blamed it on a combination of Circuit City, Linens n Things, and whoever else has gone under lately.
January 23rd, 2009 at 5:06 pm
It is rather odd that Mauser just picked Circuit City out of a hat. Maybe it seemed convenient because it was recent.
The advertisers that were treated like royalty when I was at the paper were Bergner’s and the car dealers. I think the car dealers were taken for granted until their months-long ad boycott. They certainly aren’t now.
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:33 pm
gee, guess “It’s better here!” unless you work at the Journal Star, Circuit City, Cub Foods (Knoxville), Krispy Kreme, Starbucks (Northwoods Mall), Cat (Mossville) or any other place I forgot to mention.
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:39 pm
add eServ and Par-A-Dice to that list…