Thursday, January 24, 2008
News / News Bites Shrinking the Sun-Times
Posted by Michael Miner on Thu, Jan 24, 2008 at 6:09 PM
The hammer has come down at the Sun-Times, where more layoffs were just announced. (Read here about earlier layoffs.) Names you'll recognize are about to disappear, and the strange thing is the palpable degree of relief, even satisfaction, among the staff -- it could have been a lot worse.
Editorial columnist Steve Huntley asked for and received a buyout, though he'll continue his column as a freelancer. TV critic Doug Elfman has been laid off. Special Barack Obama correspondent Jennifer Hunter, wife of former publisher John Cruickshank, took a buyout. Columnist Esther Cepeda was laid off, though there's a possibility she'll continue to freelance her column. Religion reporter Susan Hogan/Albach (known as "Slash" around the office) was laid off. Reporter Kara Spak, who's married to star investigative reporter Steve Warmbir, was laid off, a loss people seem to be mourning in particular. Editor in chief Michael Cooke's old pal Garry Steckles -- Cooke summoned him from Saint Kitts to help out and then gave him management status to protect his job -- was returned to Newspaper Guild status when the guild protested and then lost his job. Deputy metro editor Phyllis Gilchrist resigned because she knew that eliminating her management salary might save a couple of guild jobs. Assistant city editors Nancy Moffett and Robert Herguth took buyouts, as did veteran writer Jim Ritter and business copy editors Chris Whitehead and Bob Mutter. Business editor Dan Miller had resigned earlier.
In all, 14 full-time and 3 part-time guild employees were laid off (on the basis of seniority) and 12 others took buyouts, says Gerald Minkkinen, executive director of the Chicago Newspaper Guild. "In the long run," he says, "the company worked with us and did as much as they could to lessen the pain. I really have to give them credit." So does Elfman, with a cat to feed and a new job to find. "It's not a situation where they're laying off people unjustly," he says, well aware of the fact the company's bleeding money, "and I'm in favor of seniority in theory. It just happened to bite me in the ass." I've caught Elfman on his way out of the office to get a drink. "The Sun-Times has really been great about the way they've handled a lot of this," he says. "But there's a but. I was recruited here, I was asked to come here," he muses. "I guess my message to the newspaper editors of America is if you recruit someone don’t lay them off."
That's the temperate end of the spectrum of reactions to getting canned. So it was a little surprising to be told that Bob Mazzoni, the sports copy editor who's cochair of the Sun-Times's guild unit, seemed to be in a "a pretty good mood" Wednesday night, which is when calls were made to the staffers losing their jobs. It's all relative of course, but Mazzoni allows that in a sense he was. "To get down from [management's] original request of 35 jobs to 17 who are leaving involuntarily made us feel like we had really accomplished something," he told me, explaining that when the guild proposed buyouts management agreed to them at once and -- as was not true with a round of buyouts a couple of years ago -- accepted everybody who applied.
Managing editor Don Hayner is being hailed as a hero around the office. Mazzoni said, "We were told that whenever they had a meeting of any kind with stockholders or the board, Don would be there to plead the newsroom's case. Had it not been for his efforts the original number of 35 would have been higher and therefore the ensuing number of layoffs greater. He looks at the newsroom as his baby and he really felt an obligation to save as many of these jobs as he could, especially a lot of the less tenured people he was instrumental in bringing in."
Layoffs usually poison the atmosphere between management and labor. Not this time, said Mazzoni -- "I actually think this process as we went through it strengthened the trust both sides feel with each other."
Friday is the last day for Nancy Moffett, a buddy from my own Sun-Times days, a happy warrior who joined the paper in 1970 and has been there through Marshall Field, through Rupert Murdoch, through Conrad Black. Moffett told me she feels like a "basket case" knowing it's all about to end, even though she's leaving on her own terms. "It's a circus," she said. "It's a lot of smart people being funny all the time." Working at a newspaper, she's discovered, is something she can only explain to people who already know. It's addictive. "It's like being on crack."
Showing 1-25 of 25
They should be mourning Kara Spak. She's on the front page every day.
That business with Gary Steckles was crookeder than a stick, and it's good to see that justice was done in the end. Although any layoff that includes Ms. Spak can't be considered all that just - her byline is so common, it's like she's carrying the paper on her back.
I'm happy the atmosphere at the ST didn't turn poisonous, as I've seen happen at other papers in similar situations. But I remain baffled by the decision to hire as many people as the ST did in recent months, given the repeated bad news about the future of newspapers -- not to mention the negative headlines heard 'round the world about ST leadership. A third grader could have seen this coming. I love the ST and I would hate to see Chicago become a one newspaper town. So I hope ST management gets its act together and figures out how to read a balance sheet. And I hope we haven't seen the last of journalists like kara spak and bob herguth.
Uh... I didn't say that -- note my signature (literally) quotation marks. Lame pseudonyms are a dime-a-dozen, so why would someone crib this one? Who knows. Anyway, best wishes to all the latest victims of Lord Black. -- SCAM
mary mitchell and the rev. lacy j. stay? brit gossip column regurgitator and lord black apologist sneed stays, too? this is supposed to be the 'city' paper and three metro editors are out? this makes so little sense atall.
I think Mr. Mazzoni's gratitude is be misdirected. It was Mr. Cooke, the fellow so many want to vilify as a heartless heavy, who actually did the saving by fighting it out with the board and the stockholders.
M. LaVeau, mon dieu, where do you get your information? Le Cookie Monster was so busy with ze booze and ze feet and ze bonnie lasses that he had no time to save ze peon employees! He speet on them! Viva la Hayner!
I don't think any of the management outside of Dan Miller should congratulate themselves. Miller fell on the sword because the politics of the place are beyond compare when it comes to the editorial direction of the newspaper. Many voluntary buyouts came from the business desk, as people decided to leave who did not want to work in an environment minus an editorial leader like Miller. Mazzoni and others should also thank the good graces of very productive, relative "unknowns" who were laid off and are leaving the newsroom quietly while they head for the unemployment office. The key question in the Sun-Times news room was and is: What is Page one news? Do Chicagoans really need to read more about the lives of the movie stars or do they need to read more about the place where they live? With these buyouts and layoffs Chicagoans are losing some good old-fashioned journalism that Cooke et al simply didn't get and never promoted because it was not originated by one of his hand-picked Sun-Times "stars."
Take it from someone who's been keenly observing both sides from the front lines: Everyone involved spent long, agonizing hours doing what they could to save jobs. Some did more than others — specifically Don Hayner and Amanda Barrett in management; Bob Mazzoni and Misha Davenport in the guild. But ultimately it was the rank and file itself who saved the day for many. Those who were spared the ax — mainly reporters, copy editors and page designers — can thank their longtime, hard-working, well-respected coworkers who took buyouts. I don't believe that any of them really wanted to go. What Nancy Moffett said is absolutely true. Working in a newsroom is addictive and there's never a dull moment. For our highly talented but unfortunately low-seniority colleagues who didn't make the cut, know that the rest of us are extremely sad to see you go and are hoping for the miracle that will save this industry and bring you back into the fold before you end up having to take any old job.
It’s possible that one good thing has come of this: After contemptible bully Michael Cooke clumsily tried to save his cronies, the outcry was loud and clear. Now Cooke finally knows the disdain and disrespect that much of the newsroom has for him. He never can lead the Sun-Times effectively again and should depart quickly.
So, who's going to put out the paper now that Ms. Spak is gone? Her name was in it everyday. I'm glad so many people feel "relieved" in the ST newsroom. I'm sure that isn't the word Ms. Spak, "Slash," Doug Elfman and others who find themselves on the unemployment line are using this morning.
How to make the Sun-Times better: Keep it local. Keep the heat on crooked pols. More Chicago news, less international news. Lose that juvenile 'Quick HIts' double page spread. More Chicago history, more Chicago photos. Lose the ridiculous and nonsensical 'Chicagopedia.' More opinions, more comment. Lose Zwecker's gossip guff. And, of course, get rid of the absurd full length photos atop the columnist's pages. And, how's this for radical.... CAN THE SUNDAY SUN-TIMES. It's full of Friday's news, wire stories, dull features and is a bloated mess. Sundays are for reading the Tribune, that's just the way it is.
Jeez! Did they take Ebert off the medical plan, too?
This is quite a tragic story. Watching a good newspaper get ripped and its people loose jobs is quite hard. Same story everywhere, motorola, yahoo, BofA. The list goes on and on....
Can't say I'll miss Hunter. Her support of Hillary was becoming more and more transparent and, thus, more insufferable.
Nancy Moffett is definitely a good egg and it's sad to know she won't be there. Same goes for some others who worked without bylines, aren't named in the story, and are also huge losses for the paper. As for the commenter above "hoping for a miracle that will save this industry ...", I don't know quite what to say, except: Every time we ran a story where someone was "hoping for a miracle," there was usually a body found the next day. And the body count is already high enough here. It's going to take something real, something more than a miracle.
Come ON!! Anyone who thinks the managing editor gets anywhere close to the board and investors needs better medication. Only role board and investors would have is saying OK once to the big plan SunTimes announced in December, board/investors love job chops, the stock doubled when this was all announced. And hey as the union buds all congrat themsevles, anyone care to wonder why we still make these decisions on "seniority" in this millennium??? THAT'S why young talent had to go, so the old grouces can stay. There's no justice in that.
As a veteran of the newspaper business (though not a recent one; I left it in 1991 when I was laid off some 372 owners ago from a suburban newspaper that's now part of the crumbling Sun-Times empire), I share in the mourning while at the same time saying, "we told youso." The entire indsutry dug its own grave by refusing to recognize the extraordinary potential of digital communications and convergence technology and then, even when it finally that potential, refused to alter its course or undergo change to keep up with the times. Some newspapers did embrace change and will survive. As for the behemouths like the Sun-Times, as well as the Trib, it remains to be seen -- they may have acted/reacted too little and late.
Just because someone's name is in the paper or even on the Front Page everyday doesn't mean they are invaluable. There are many people who never got a byline who are more valuable than anyone realizes, and they have no fan club to shout their name.
Sneedless to say, the salary of one "headliner" columnist (whose scoops read like last week's edition of US Weekly) might have saved 4 or 5 of these folks in the trenches. Too bad.
Howard Wolinsky (Internet reporter, formerly crack medical reporter) took the buyout too.
Ben Goldberger and Leonard N. Fleming are gone too.
Losing Esther Cepeda was a mistake. Send Cooke back to Canada instead. Cruickshank can find him a job--if he hasn't already by this point.
Eric Todd Brammer.....I have been looking for you for 20 years. Where are you my friend?
Latest in The Blog
-
Too New to Review: Prairie Fire, Leo's Coney Island, the Southern, Revolution Brewing Company, and More
Prairie Fire, Leo's Coney Island of Chicago, the Southern, and other restaurants too new to review.
- Feb 8, 2010
-
Fewer Shoes on the North Side
Times are tough for shoe stores too.
- Feb 8, 2010
-
When Golden Earring Were Good
Wait, Golden Earring was good?
- Feb 8, 2010
- More»
Author Archives
-
About the Thomson Prison Debate
- Nov 18, 2009
-
Six Stories About the Census
How Medill students and local ethnic papers came together to find a common immigrant experience
- Jan 21, 2010
-
Bill Gleason — the Interview That Got Him Canned
Bill Gleason — remember him by his own words.
- Jan 4, 2010
- More»
Top Commenters
Comments (25) RSS