Recession Reporter Laid Off... Denied Chance To Publish Final Piece About Getting Laid Off

from the in-denial dept

Thu, Apr 23rd 2009 10:30pm — Mike Masnick

Via Romenesko comes the news that the Chicago Tribune's own "recession reporter" wasn't just laid off in the latest round, but was then stopped from posting a story about the experience. Well, he actually published it and it was quickly taken down by Trib editors. Of course, because of the takedown, the text of his blog post is now getting a lot more attention. Reading it over, it's difficult to see what the Trib was concerned about. It seems like the type of writing they would want in their publication -- humanizing the situation, while still being respectful of what's happening.

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Filed Under: layoffs, recession, recession reporter
Companies: chicago tribune

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vidiot (profile), 24 Apr 2009 @ 4:03am

Tribune's hostile response
Reporting on your own layoff... sounded familiar. Then I remembered a similar situation last September, when NPR reporter Ketzel Levine's story on layoffs was punctuated with her own firing. A very different response from two very different corporate entities.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/29/business/media/29levine.html?_r=1
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Vincent Clement, 24 Apr 2009 @ 6:20am

What was the Tribune thinking? There is nothing negative in his post. In fact, he thanked the owner of the tribune and his boss. His post is the kind of article or news that people WANT to see in newspapers.
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Overcast, 24 Apr 2009 @ 6:51am

This is exactly why 'new media' - sites like this; other forums - and such are SO MUCH BETTER than the old media.

More views, more opinion, more analysis.

After all - who is the 'News' for? The media companies or the public? I can only make a big assumption and say, if not for the public the news would be worthless.
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Tgeigs, 24 Apr 2009 @ 6:52am

One in the hospital, two in the morgue
That's the Chicago way.
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Al Capone, 24 Apr 2009 @ 7:20am

They made...
They made the article an offer it couldn't refuse.
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Rogers Cadenhead, 24 Apr 2009 @ 10:15am

Possible Reason to Spike the Story
Most of his post wasn't very controversial, but he did declare that "I am part of an industry-wide trend that will likely result in the death of print journalism within five years time." That's a pretty fatalistic view to put in a paper that's struggling to stay afloat.

Lou Cardozo also rips them a new one on his own site today, so it's not like he was going gently into that good night.

If you were his immediate supervisor, and you're mindful your own job could be next on the chopping block, would you take the risk to run his parting shot?
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refe, 24 Apr 2009 @ 12:25pm

Lou Carlozo
I was surprised to see this post - Lou is a good friend of my dad's. Great guy - it's a shame to see him go. Loved what he did, too. Hopefully this free publicity will help him land a new gig.

By the way, I would certainly not say that he 'ripped them a new one' in the link Rogers provided...
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Rogers Cadenhead, 24 Apr 2009 @ 2:17pm

Why Not?
He pointed out the $13 million in bonuses, called a company memo "extremely disingenuous" and said the Tribune was "losing readers like a trauma victim loses blood and internal organs." He's not a happy camper (and as someone who knows a laid-off journalist myself, I can't blame him).
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gul, 19 Dec 2009 @ 9:11am

guloo
hiiiiiiiiiiiii
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gul, 19 Dec 2009 @ 9:11am

guloo
hiiiiiiiiiiiii
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