Keith J. Kelly in his Media Ink column in the New York Post reported this week that the Old Grey Lady of American journalism is cutting 100 news room positions in a few days. New York Times Executive Editor William Keller is looking for 100 staffers to fall on the sword for early retirement (with pension) and three weeks pay for each year of service.
At the turn of the 21st Century, Craig Newmark’s Craigslist became a black hole, sucking classified revenue from dead tree newspapers. Every major metropolitan daily made cuts; the Boston Globe, Dallas Morning News, Chicago Tribune, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and now it’s The New York Times. First gristle and fat, now it’s muscle and bones. Layoffs are so common in the industry that gallows humor rivals the bottle as the coping method of choice.
Cuts in staff are bad enough, but to make it worse, they're buy-outs. Soon, because of buy-outs, attrition, and retirement, the news room of tomorrow will be staffed entirely by 20 and 30 year-olds. Ask any journalist with more than ten years in the business, and you’ll hear about old Ed “Rad” Radunzell at the wire desk, who filed stories from Europe during the War, or Bill Heinz, when searching for the hook for his coverage of the March from Selma to Mongomery, took his photographer back out to the road in the middle of the night so he could “get the smell of it” It’ll be a sad day when the students become the mentors.
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