April 2, 2008
WaPo and WaTi Trim Staff
City Desk apparently has a fantastic set of sources inside the newsrooms of the District's two main competing newspapers, and today they bring us updates on the layoffs that have been hitting the industry at almost every level.
First, the Washington Times. According to a memo from new Editor in Chief John Solomon, the Times is finally looking to be a profitable operation, possibly in hopes of actually giving money back to primary owner Rev. Sun Myung Moon instead of just taking it away. Obviously, such an ambitious goal requires trimming the staff a little, as Solomon informed:
As we discussed in our private coffees a few weeks ago, reshaping the newsroom for the challenges of the 21st century and moving the entire company toward profitability were going to require many tough decisions...Over the next few weeks, we will make a difficult journey. The effort will be expeditious and fair, even-handed and humane. It will require us to say goodbye to some colleagues we have known for many years and to celebrate their many accomplishments as they leave us. It will also allow us to welcome some new colleagues whose skills will improve our capabilities, particularly in the digital arena. By the end of April, we will have achieved a newsroom that is stronger and better aligned for the future.Next, the Washington Post. Though the paper is part of a hugely profitable and diversified company, the honchos at the Post are still trying to find way to make more money in a particularly difficult industry. Thankfully for many Post employees, the paper hasn't had to outright fire people, opting instead for early retirement packages that usually include two years of pay and benefits. But according to City Desk, new publisher Katherine Weymouth either has a sick sense of humor or isn't aware of the significance of certain colors in the workplace -- the most recent round of offers were printed on pink paper. Once alerted to the slip-up, this is what Weymouth had to say:
“To be honest, I was not aware that pink sheets accompanied packets but I am confident that it was random and unintentional. It certainly was not our intent to cause any anxiety. On the contrary -- our goal was to get the packets out to people and to cause as little disruption as possible.”In somewhat related news, the new and improved Newseum is set to open on April 11. Of course, at this rate, it'll be a huge monument to a dead industry in a few years, which is pretty damn depressing.
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The most profitable move the Washington Times could make is to shut all operations down and rent out that sign on New York Ave. that carries those hilarious headlines.
There's a big difference between the end of newspapers and the end of news. The Newseum is not just about newspapers.
So dead tree media has to trim some branches?
So shines a good deed in a weary world.
i wish all news would end! that'd be relaxing
To be honest, I was not aware that pink sheets accompanied packets but I am confident that it was random and unintentional.
The irony of course being that the term is "pink slip" not "pink sheet". Let's hope for the sake of the Post co. that it wasn't a fruedian slip, seeing as a "pink sheet" is basically a nearly worthless stock.
pretty damn depressing indeed.
and it's my understanding that with 24-hour "news" the way it is these days, news has already ended.
oh, i just noticed: Stockard Channing! i loved you on West Wing!
the fact that ms. weymouth doesn't know what a pink slip is gives a pretty good glipse of just how big a silver spoon she was born with in her mouth.
Ms. Weymouth never said she doesn't know what a pink slip is.
To be fair, I don't think Weymouth was saying she doesn't know what a pink slip is; I think she meant that she did not realize the packets they handed out included sheets of paper that were colored pink.
"i wish all news would end! that'd be relaxing"
Ignorance is indeed bliss
Funny stuff--Arnaud de Borchgrave was claiming the Times would become profitable sometime in the 1980s, and it's lost like $2 billion since then.
What does owner Rev. Sun Myung Moon think of the new mission statement? (In my new film The King of America, Moon is seen at Times dinner parties gone horribly wrong, musing on how his Times will drive home two crucial ideas: 1) Free sex is centered on Satan! 2) Christianity as we know it must perish!)
"By the end of April, we will have achieved a newsroom that is stronger and better aligned for the future."
So fellow Wire fans, would you say they are going to have to do more with less?
The Washington Times is trash. It should lay off all of its employees, except for one. It should keep one person to answer the phone calls of former subscribers and tell them to stop being so ignorant and read a real newspaper.