Wednesday, April 22, 2009
News / News Bites Gone from the Tribune, a running count
Posted by Michael Miner on 04.22.09 at 04:48 PM
Here's a list of names I've already posted of Tribune newsroom staffers laid off Wednesday. I'll add to it as I confirm additional people. The Tribune says the total will come to 53.
Mary L. Dedinsky, Web Editor, Metro
Russell Working, General Assignment Reporter/Writer, Oak Brook Bureau
Susan Diesenhouse, Real Estate Feature Writer
Josephine Napolitano, General Assignment Reporter/Writer, Tinley Park Bureau.
Eric Benderoff, Technology Reporter, Financial News
David Trotman-Wilkins, Staff Photographer
Candice Cusic, Staff Photographer
John Smierciak, Staff Photographer
Charles Cherney, Staff Photographer
William Grady, Deputy Bureau Chief, Schaumburg Bureau
Beth Botts, Garden Writer, House & Homes
Robert K. Elder, Reporter, Live
Lou Carlozo, Reporter, Smart
Brenda Butler, Assistant Editor, Chicago Tribune Magazine
Lilah Lohr, Assistant Books Editor
Jessica Reaves, Reporter, Chicago Tribune Magazine
Tom Hundley, Reporter, Chicago Tribune Magazine
Susan Kuczka, General Assignment Reporter/Writer, Vernon Hills Bureau
Storer Rowley, National Editor
James P. Miller, Corporate Strategy and Manufacturing Reporter, Financial News
Carolyn Starks, General Assignment Reporter/Writer, Crystal Lake Bureau
Melissa Isaacson, Specialist Reporter, Sports
Alan Artner, Art Critic, A&E
Bob Sakamoto, High School Sports Reporter
Suzanne Cosgrove, Assistant Editor, House & Homes
Elaine Matsushita, Editor, House & Homes
John Mullin, Reporter, Sports
Terry Bannon, Illinois Basketball/Football Reporter, Sports
Joshua Boak, Business Reporter
Patrick Reardon, Reporter, Live!
AND ALSO...
Geoff Black, Photo Editor, Features
Bradley Piper, Senior Producer, Editorial Multimedia
Kristin Morris, Assistant Design Editor, Sports
Thomas Carkeek, Associate Subject Editor, Sports
Timothy J. Horneman, Assistant Subject Editor, Metro
Bob Vanderberg, Assistant High School Sports Editor
Ed Cavanaugh, Assistant Copy Editor, Sports
Richard Rothschild, Assistant Copy Editor, Sports
Keith Swinden, Picture Editor, Sports
Robert Ohap, Assistant Subject Editor, News Editing
Dimitry Tetin, Assistant Subject Editor, Presentation
Marty Fischer, Assistant Subject Editor, Metro Copy Desk
Lucy Hoy, Assistant Subject Editor, Metro Copy Desk
Min Pak, Imaging Technician
Thomas Van Dyke, Staff Photographer
William L. Avorio, Multi-Media Imaging Technician Bonnie Trafelet, Staff Photographer
And...
DeVona Alleyne, Newsdesk
Comments (112)
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I'm especially shocked and terribly upset that Lou Carlozo was let go. I've worked with him in the past and in addition to his being a great reporter/writer, he was a top-notch editor.
Bob Vanderberg let go? He's one of the good guys, a walking encyclopedia of White Sox and baseball history, the guy who helped organize high quality preps coverage and a pleasure to work with over the years. In fact, the other losses in Sports are -- to put it bluntly -- just as shocking: Terry Bannon, John Mullin, Bob Sakamoto, Tom Carkeek. Decades of experience and institutional memory all gone.
Too bad they didn't start at the top in this bloodletting. The paper's hard right positions have made it irrelevant to many Chicagoans, especially the younger generation who find it all on the web. I subscribe mostly for the comics, and I don't mean Kass, Krauthammer, Byrne, etc. Freakin' Zellots!
Also lost is sports photo editor John Konstantaras, probably the most talented picture editor at the paper.
Honestly, I don't recognize a lot of these names. And I think a newsroom of 430 (remaining) sounds HUGE. I'm sure these were all good people, and I am sorry they are now out of work, but the place just sounds like it was too fat.
Dix, I'd go back and read Miner's post awhile back on a ChiMag editor. Readers don't notice editors, but writers do. Not saying that the Trib isn't fat (or that it is), just that having heard of them = value.
It takes a thousand people to put on a Cubs game 81 times a year, from advertising execs to beer vendors, but with a few exceptions I bet you only know the names of the players. Same deal. (FWIW, that is the polite version of my original reaction to your comment.)
I am sick to hear that Lou Carlozo was let go. I've worked with him on articles and he is a great guy, and he'd been there for years.
More grim news for the paper and a loss for the city as well. My best wishes to all those hardworking newsfolk shown the door by cold Mother Trib. Can't blame Zell without pointing the finger first at Madigan & Fitzsimons, whom the Chandlers will always love! Shame they got out w/their pockets stuffed, and the folks above paying the price.
It's been a rough day. Very rough. There have been a lot of tears today, with as much grace and professionalism. The best way we can honor those who are no longer with us is to survive and if possible, thrive.
Point taken, Whet. I still don't think that the Trib turned out a product that justified a newsroom of 500+. I wonder how big the NYT staff is (I have no idea).
@Dix: Get bent. (That again is my polite response.) Also: NYT newsroom had 1,300 as of February 2008, the most recent citation I could find in the 5 seconds of Googling I could spare.
@Pvt. McCormick: Go bend yourself, jack. Business is business, and this company was slow to respond to changes that began to emerge more than 20 years ago. Set aside how poorly managed the place was and is, to cut costs, you cut overhead and that means people. As talented as these people are, you're also looking a lot of seniority and a lot of overhead costs. Perhaps there other places to cut expenses, but the Trib's newsroom is not sacred ground, and this isn't the end of world. As a person I know there is quick to say: "No lives were lost in the process." As difficult as this is to accept, try to keep it in perspective, and that's my polite response.
A decent paper should have at least 1 journalist--editor or reporter--per 1,000 circulation. But that rule of thumb originated long before the Web--and, in the Trib's case, the horrid Redeye. So, at least arguably, the journo/reader ratio should be higher today. Plus isn't the Tribune well below 430 journalists after today? Regardless, it's a rinky-dink operation. Before everyone joins us in a mass cancellation on Friday, please, take a little time and note just how piddling Tribune stories are. Damned near everything is lopped down to lozenge size. And compare with the coverage from a good paper, like the New York Times or Wall Street Journal. At one time, the Tribune could kind of hold its own. You could understand why a subscriber would prefer it to one of the big gray papers. No more.
What a roster of important names here; we don´t know these people personally but as home subscribers, we have read their stories for years: Storer Rowley let go? Tom Hundley? Alan Artner? Robert Elder?! Melissa Isaccson? Patrick Reardon? Lou Carlozo?! Eric Benderoff?!? This is unbelievable....sickening to read. What´s the world coming to?
Well, you know all of those people were just the best back when I worked at the Tribune, remained the best after I left, and will remain the best after they go, too. I'm very sorry.
Oh, the irony. The banner ad below all these postings on the Trib's ongoing demise is an ad for... the Trib's Breaking News website. You couldn't make it up.
Why do Atlanta and Texas bureaus stay? And why has not a hair been touched on the editorial board?
[[twitter in the tower April 22nd - 9:38 p.m. Why do Atlanta and Texas bureaus stay? And why has not a hair been touched on the editorial board?]] never mind the edit board, what about those meaningless, self-important "columnists"? yes, please tell us more about yoga, mary. and i can't move a muscle until i know what eric zorn thinks about the news of the day. steve johnson still has a job and bob rowley is bagging groceries? how exactly does that work?
Along with those who see the magnitude of the loss here, there's lots of glib commentary about how it's no big deal. Well, good luck seeing how Daley and Stroger are screwing us when the last of the watchdogs is gone. Good luck forcing the federal government to treat our money like real money once no one is watching. And good luck getting anyone to care about governmental ineptitude or abuse once every story is 400 words. It's coming, and the Huffington Post won't have anything useful to link to soon. And don'te even get me started on how thin the national/foreign report is now ...
Ditto Al Solomon, dittoing Charlie Madigan. And, as long as I'm ditto-ing, Ditto stume2. And, though I do NOT want to see anyone else leave, twitter in the tower has a point: If it's to be local, local, local, then keeping Atlanta and Texas bureaus makes no sense (even though the articles coming out of them are interesting). But, then, what about today and the names/jobs has made any more sense than the other times this has happened?
What Sol said. And Woody, do you really want a newspaper or Web site without staff photos? Now, to those of you who left the Tower when the gettin' was better, perhaps you could post some advice on how to get through the immediate, and not so immediate, aftermath. What does, and can, an ex-Tribster do? (I moved to another country, but surely that's an extreme makeover...)
What a thoroughly rotten day here in the newsroom, which is saying a lot by recent standards. Let's emphasize, again and again, the point that these filthy little Zellites opted NOT to carry on at the current fairly comfortable level of profit, opted NOT to cut salaries and benefits to achieve the same savings but rather deliberately chose to condemn their people to desperate joblessness in an impossible job market. This didn't happen in a vacuum. It came about in the middle of a recession/depression when the newspaper industry is not hiring and likely will not be hiring for a very long time, if ever. THERE WERE OTHER, CLEAR OPTIONS. THEY WENT OUT OF THEIR WAY TO CHOOSE THE MOST DELIBERATELY CRUEL AND INHUMANE. THIS MUST NEVER, EVER BE FORGOTTEN. It forever guarantees, certifies and seals the nature of these Zell vermin. I understand the need of remaining employees to continue working for the Tribune, but I hope it at least pricks our collective conscience a bit. Also, good points about the Atlanta and Houston bureaus. But don't you see the crafty strategy behind it all? Having crapped all over its workforce and readers in most of the city and burbs, the Trib is now focused like a laser on the "frenzied families" and "carefree couples" on the north side and north shore. And having two bureaus in the SOUTH adds cosmic, karmic balance. . I know. I saw the Lee Abrams memo on this. . One more thought: The idea of people like Gerry Kern and Jane Hirt firing people like Mary Dedinsky, Bob Rowley and Tom Hundley can only be likened to a pet hamster firing the Pope. It's actually worth drying one's tears for a moment to contemplate the uncanniness of it all.
I'm a layoff survivor (twice), and I feel for those Trib folks. Can anyone fill us in on exactly when and how Trib HR dropped the bomb yesterday? The way in which a company lets you go really speaks volumes. I think we all know how horribly mishandled it can be.
Foreign correspondents Paul Salopek, Kim Barker and Laurie Goering have resigned and I think are technically part of this cut.
As awful as it was, it could have been handled a lot worse (see the Southtown reports). Various angels of death prowled the newsroom and asked to talk privately with the affected. No extra security, no "pack your things in 15 minutes." Computer access continued. A few finished the stories they were working on; others didn't. All spent as much or as little time as they wanted gathering their stuff, downloading clips and hugging friends and enemies alike. Many will be back today to finish. In short, people were treated like adults. Go figure. I do not know about severance. And all that said, everyone was twitchy as hell, especially in the first few hours of their shift. We were afraid of our shadows, and we hated to see colleagues gone for more than a few minutes, thinking the worst.
Hard to believe Bob Sakamoto,who worked endlessly to cover high school sports, is going, and Mary Schmich will still be around, writing about putting away her sweaters in the spring.
Thank God the editorial board remains at full strength and John Kass still has an assistant to help him compose his tedious taunts.
And why have we not seen any editorial managers on the list. As more and more rank and file are cut, the management remains in tact. They could have fired one manager and that would have had the same cost cutting salary effect as saving 2 employees. What about double dippers at the Tribune, those husband and wife teams that are still employed. In the photo department alone there are 3 such teams. Cut one of them. Of course not, they are all friends and vacationing buddies and they are not going to ruin their perks. Shamefull
Take all these people, put them in a newsroom under competent management, and you could put out a paper that runs circles around what Zell and his minions are putting out.
Interesting list. I don't like to see anyone laid-off, but the Trib is over-padded. There remains a good bit of fat at that paper, and quite honestly they could still make a good number of cuts. Fluffy reporters abound over there, light-weights. And on the editor front there's one right under Kern who is absolutely useless. But unfortunately some very old ways of rising to the top exist.
And yet Dawn Turner Trice and Eric Zorn will still be getting a paycheck. Not to mention Teddy Grenstein and Rick Morrissey.
At least Zorn does actual reporting and takes a stand on things. He was an early blogger and an active Internet presence, and he gets a lot of traffic. Schmich can't be bothered with such hightechery. She commits all the fouls of bad columning: imaginary characters, writing in verse, quoting her friends (by first name only, if that) and often dubiously, writing about the weather four times a year, and, worst of all, having nothing to say. As for Trice; I don't know how she got the gig.
The Atlanta and Houston bureaus will close soon. Today's Tribune carries the last bylines on stories and photographs by Artner, Cusic, Van Dyke, Benderoff. The caliber of journalist lost over the last 16 months is unmatched.
Are any of the still-employed incompetents old FOAMs (Friends of Ann Marie)? Just wondering whether there's lingering protection here. Or maybe these folks were just cheaper and/or more visibly compliant?
stume2, You're making that argument about a paper that has consistently endorsed almost every incumbent legislator and alderman? The paper that endorsed George Ryan AFTER the licenses for bribes scandal broke, because they just couldn't believe it about such a nice guy? The Trib's fat laziness is a big reason we have the city and state we do. We need a Mirage, but all the Trib gives us is a mirage.
list of the many sports folks who were let go is at www.ChicagoBusiness.com/sherman
Too bad some commenters think this difficult occasion is a good excuse to trash people who didn't get fired (no doubt for a wide range of reasons).
It's interesting that many of those who remain are FOAMs--especially many of the hub-and-wife couples. Guess she worked her voodoo on Kern.
