Victims of the recent purge at the Washington Times have walked away with a shell-shocked sensation. As in, What the hell just happened here?
Consider: After riding out some really bad times, the paper all of a sudden ousts its visionary top management and then announces layoffs as deep as 40 percent. And when it comes [...]
Last week, the Washington Times laid off a large chunk of its newsroom, essentially junking its sports and Metro sections in favor of a more focused product. The new direction that the paper is unfurling—whatever it is—focuses on throwing less content on the street in hopes of reviving its business model.
The Washington Times, in [...]
The new Twitter icon for @TWTSports—what used to be the Sports department of the Washington Times—says it all: FIRED.
The Sports Desk—the whole, entire Sports Desk—is no more, a casualty of the massacre going on over at the Times newsroom. But the Sports Desk tweets live on!
The released staff writers are still in control of the [...]
Here's how the Washington Times handled the layoffs of many newsroom staffers today. The account comes from a source at the paper.
Management sent around an e-mail around mid-afternoon informing everyone of a mandatory staff meeting in the auditorium. Acting Publisher Jonathan Slevin addressed the people who assembled, spewing standard lines about how it's such [...]
Heads are rolling in the Arlington offices of Washingtonpost.com, the longtime WaPo Web lab that is now undergoing a merger with the Post newsroom in downtown D.C. According to a knowledgeable source, the ranks of the RIFed number around ten so far.
City Desk is working on compiling a list of the dismissed, which reportedly [...]
Yesterday, the New York Times announced that it would be cutting 100 newsroom jobs via buyouts and layoffs. When the best paper in the country has to cut jobs, that's bad, very bad news. Anyone that's checked out journalismjobs.com lately will tell you that the news industry isn't clamoring for reporters. But the news provoked [...]
Prince of Petworth posts on the effort/petition to save the Black Rooster. One reader's response: "i LOVE the black rooster. if the peace corps really closes it down…i just…i might just not go to happy hour anymore, ever, anywhere. and that would make me terribly sad. save the rooster!"
Penn Quarter Living debuts a new column [...]
The Washington Teacher blog has posted a link to a 17-page memo sent recently from Jesus Aguirre, the D.C Public Schools' director of school operations, to all DCPS principals, laying out Chancellor Michelle Rhee's guidelines for the impending "reduction in force" she says is necessary because of budget constraints (in the real world, "RIF" means [...]
First the merge, now the purge. FishbowlDC has the scoop: CQ-Roll Call is in the process of laying off 44 employees (writers, editors, etc.) today during a series of meetings. These meetings seem less like meetings than a cattle slaughter. These meetings aren't going to be subtle. One staffer told FishbowlDC that it feels like [...]
Here are a few words used in yesterday's press release from the D.C. Public School system about the coming teacher layoffs: "equalization," "right-size," "reduction-in-force," "align staffing," and "required separations."
One word not used: "layoffs."
From the Above the Law blog's reporting, the Kilpatrick Stockton law firm sent around an e-mail this morning detailing a possible suicide or crime scene in their 14th Street offices. The e-mail stated:
"Good morning,
Please remain in our space until further notice. Metropolitan Police Department are currently responding to an unconscious male with a gunshot wound [...]
This morning, LL was all over Fenty's announced District gov job cuts. Our aggressive political scribe reported: "Of the remaining 776 employees the mayor is proposing to lay off, 250 are in DCPS—mostly teachers aides and support staff, Tangherlini says." This may not seem like scary news, but it is.
I know what your thinking: teachers [...]
