Broward Palm Beach News Blog

Heard one person was called in Italy on vacation and told she's a goner. Lovely.

MIAMI-The Miami Herald Publishing Co. has found an office tenant for the 50,000 square feet available at its headquarters, One Herald Plaza. Brown Mackie College, a subsidiary of Pittsburgh, PA-based Education Management Corp., has signed a 10-year lease valued between $18 million and $20 million. The deal is the biggest office lease of the year to date, according to Cushman & Wakefield, which represented the tenant in the transaction.

If Dan Christensen is getting the ax, the Herald is losing the best of its best in Broward....
Pathetic.
Too bad Dan wasn't born in Havana.

Yeah, give him hell, Shelley!

Why would you publish this list? Horrible.

Not horrible. You think the Herald is gonna publish this list?

Anonymous,

I don't see how this is "public embarrassment" or "bloodsucking". Especially since a lot of Bob's sources seem to be coming from inside the house.

Whether you like or not, this sort of thing has become pretty common place (media bistro, romanesko, jossip, gawker, etc.). People were bound to notice as bylines disappear, and frankly, it's humanizing to put names to numbers.

It's not horrible. People want to know - these are their friends and valued colleagues. They want to be there for them, offer help, compassion.
Anyone who takes joy in seeing someone else lose their job is beyond sick. And it's true - we are in the information business, why do we hold back among our own?

Really? I haven't gotten much compassion. What I got was a shocking blow I had zero time to digest before it was offered for public consumption. Bob's sources are so adept they don't even know what some people's jobs are or how to spell their names. And the people feeding him the information are just as guilty.

Some of these people did not want their layoff publicized and that should be respected. Being on the list should have been optional.

When a local business, such as a factory, lays off people, there is a story but no list of names. Laid-off workers may be quoted in the story, but their participation is optional. The notion that the public is somehow "owed" a list of names is bogus. When I was whacked elsewhere, my remaining colleagues were very protective of me. That's as it should be.

There are multiple folks writing as "anonymous" so don't insult all of them.

Anonymous, you're talking through the wrong hole.

I'm anything but smug about this, and I've been laid off a few times.

So yeah, I know exactly what it feels like.

I understand not publicizing individual firings of colleagues, but these mass layoffs are public events. They are reported in newspapers (well, most newspapers, Earl Maucker). Everyone knows by the caliber of some of the names on here that this wasn't based on journalistic ability. (Can someone, for instance, tell me how in the HELL Diana Moskovitz could be let go? All she did was fill the paper). Did you see the last list from the Palm Beach Post? There were many massively talented people on it. Practically the first two people dropped by the Sun-Sentinel were Tim Collie, probably the paper's best writer, and Joe Demma, a hard-nosed and excellent editor who has been part of Pulitzers.

It's pure narcissism to get all worked up about the issue.

And on that note ... let's see some more names.

Complaining about having your name posted is bullshit for any real journalist. If you can dish it out, you should be able to take it. You've made your living publishing the names of folks who didn't necessarily want to be in the next day's newspaper. Now you're seeing it from the other side. By the way. my name appeared here in July during the Sun-Sentinel's last big layoff. I ended up hearing from a lot of old friends.

I'm proud to have my name listed today.

We didn't quit on them.
They quit on us.

A search doesn't turn up any reporting here about all the cutbacks at Village Voice Media, owner of New Times, much less names attached to the cuts. Did I miss something? Bad search engine? User error? I looked and I looked and I looked ...

Hi Bob. You are a fucking asshole. >>

Hey loser, nice mouth. Why don't you shut the f- up and bite it. What is your problem? Don't blame the writer for your stupidity, ignorance and lack of poetic vocabulary.

He is a reporter, he REPORTS!!

Now ask your mom if she'll let you back on the family computer, punk.

I applaud Bob Norman for letting the public know the talent that is being forced out of the Miami Herald.

Add to that list Mike Phillips, a talented and likeable sportswriter. He'll be missed.

I'm surprised they did this in the middle of the week. Thursday will be one helluva day to come back to the office after all this...

This is an interesting debate -- because it speaks to what journalists really think of full disclosure. For example, when a newspaper sues for government documents, it wants the documents made public -- on the paper's terms. The information has to be disclosed, as long as its read about in our pages. If the government posted a previously closed document on its website newspaper editors would do two things: privately curse and publicly write a story about how the government buckled under pressure from the paper, who acted in the public interest.
When did it become offensive to name names? Reporters do it in their stories all the time. They do it when they write about bake sales, they do it when they write about drunk driving. Picture a story that reads: A hockey forward for the Maple Leafs, who declined to authorize his name to be used, scored a hat trick yesterday. This blog isn't saying, "Hey great, look who's going out the door of a storied paper." It named journalist names because that's what you're supposed to do if you cover a media staff reduction. Maybe the Herald doesn't take public money, but it is in a publicly traded company.
But it's not like that matters. Bob's not being a parasite, or if he is, he's an equal parasite to any one of us who ever listed an accident victim in critical condition, or ever named a defendant's accuser -- it's what we do. And when those people complain you know what we're conditioned to say? Some iteration of "First Amendment... Fourth Estate... Public has a right to know."
Problem is, we don't smirk and give those incantations when we're the ones in print.
This is the Information Age, people. There's information everywhere.
For journalists that should be thought of as a good thing. Instead, we seem to want free-flowing information as long as it's on our own terms.

Yeah hirsch is pretty useless. add to him the constantly fueding six figure salaries of Eddie Alvarez and Jorge Rojas, and that Dave Wilson basically does the job of a secretary, and you have to wonder how we even get the paper out with all these albatrosses. Why do we have the same amount of MEs as when we had twice as many reporters/editors/photographers? Why aren't these people being fired?

Where are the rest of the names? I assume they did not want to be in this list or maybe your source dried up or did you realize that you are a scumbag for posting them?

I agree with you on Pruitt, because without the obscene debt load McClatchy would be worth more than 50 cents a share.

And I am no Anders fan, but not for the reasons you list here. His aloofness bugs me.
His inability to do the hard job of getting rid of some of his inner circle is cowardly. (Wilson stays? Really? Hirsch stays? Really? John Yearwood stays and Lisa Gibbs goes? REALLY?)

But Anders did not drive the Herald into the ground. Readership online is actually up. So many of the things he implemented had positive impact.

Pruitt really didn't either, but he should be fired immediately for the KR blunder.

Every newspaper failed to take Google and Craigslist seriously. And thought the internet was a fad. Just like GM thought Japanese cars were a fad, or at the very least that Americans would never give up their SUVs for a Civic.

It's not that online doesn't work. It's that newspapers didn't figure out how to make it work for them before all their revenue disappeared. Even without the recession, this was coming.

At least Anders tried some new things. He's a lousy manager because he is an awkward person and does not know how to deal with people and apparently can't deal with conflict.He's a lousy manager for letting Shelly Acoca, who actually did some work, go and letting Hirsch stay. Besides shooting home videos on his expensive vacations that he then posts on the Herald website, Hirsch knows nothing about publishing a website. Nothing. Not even basic HTML.

That's criminal that he stays and makes mid six figures. Criminal.

I grieve for the Herald today. And for the newspaper industry. Journalism will survive. But not the newspaper industry as we knew it.

Why did the Herald lay off so many writers? At the Sun Sentinel the rumor is designers and copy editors. Is there some kind of back room deal, where the Herald lays off the content and the Sentinel lays off the production and then they merge?

Two thoughts:

1) A Herald-Sentinel merger (which is nothing but speculation, anyway) certainly won't be predicated on a shortage or surplus of copy editors.

2) How could a journalist object to having his or her name on a layoff list? We routinely publish names of crime victims --- do we ask their permission? Or lists of names of people who bought or sold property .... Or for a thousand other reasons.

I think many people will argue that if you don't even understand the basics of how to post a story and how long HTML coding takes, etc., can you really formulate a plan for the website and the future of the industry?

Some of the other mid-managers are useless, too. They spend most of their time walking around doing nothing. Usually in pairs, so they look like they are coordinating something. They are not. Big cash drain.

Bob Norman, thank you for publishing the names of the very talented staffers who have been forced out thanks to the poor management decisions of The Miami Herald and McClatchy.

Please continue as the public needs to know why the newspaper they subscribe to is now reduced to interns, former interns, and old hacks.

Oh, and speaking of old hacks:

How is it that two no-talent, abusive, never-worked-anyplace-else-but-the miami herald "editors" like Dave Wilson and Rick Hirsch are still employed?

They get paid to go to meetings and make the lives of talented staffers here miserable.

Those two unqualified stooges have never made a smart decision in their lives: Wilson, a Broward Community College graduate who finished near the bottom of his class, regularly makes idiotic decisions that have done nothing but ruin a once great newspaper.

Remember the ill-fated Neighbors expansion that was done with no planning? Yup, Wilson. He was the Sunday "editor" and never edited one decent story or ever came up with one decent idea in his life. I wouldn't trust him with a mop job at McDonald's.

Wilson is now the "budget" man at the Miami Herald -- after the Herald fired via "forced buyouts" a smart woman who was the best budget person we ever had. If the Herald gets audited, we will be in even bigger trouble!

And Rick Hirsch? Please. He runs multi-media, but he cannot shoot or edit video, he cannot do html, he cannot blog. And he cannot edit copy.

Professional B.S. artists have no place in managing any media organization. We need real talent and vision and worldly experience to survive as an industry.

Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection will be the next move for McClatchy before the end of the year.

And somehow, I'll bet Wilson and Hirsch will still pinch out a paycheck.

The number of two-fisted journalists with balls enough to include their names with their opinions clearly shows the newspaper game ain't going out with a bang -- but rather a shameful whimper.
Like at this point, I count more than 30 really gutsy tell-it-like-it-is newshounds who've by-lined themselves as "anonymous" in their raging response to Pulp's end-of-days coverage at the Herald.

If you ask me, the Herald has done these buyouts/layoffs backassward for a year now. From the beginning, Anders and department managers should have ranked all employees based on skill level, productivity and newsroom need. Those people who provide value to the newsroom and are versatile -- regardless of salary level or tenure -- should have been kept. Instead, based on some idiotic criteria, some indispensible people, WHO ACTUALLY WERE PRODUCTIVE, were let go, while others with more seniority and higher salaries continue to be employed to this day.

Unfortunately, there is still some dead weight on the fifth floor. You know who you are, so if you were offered a buyout, please do the rest of us a favor and take it -- NOW!! Too bad at least one manager was let go -- at least for appearances sake. Lisa doesn't count, since she's already found another job.

For the most part, I agree with the comments some have made about some mid-level managers. If what you contribute each day isn't readily apparent to everyone, then you fall in the dead weight category. I hope now, you'll see all of them stay a little later, roll up their sleeves and sit down in the trenches with the rest of us each day and night.

My thoughts and prayers are with those who got caught in this net -- and those who had to leave in other buyouts. I wish only the best for all of you, and it would be my pleasure to once again work with you someday, somewhere.

I fear there will be more layoffs, so taking the buyout just might tempt me this time. Adios, amigos.

After the Sun Sentinel's summer layoffs/buyouts, the only way I knew who was still around was the Pulp list. So when I get laid off next week or next month or this summer for the 'sin' of not working in the Chicago newsroom, I expect to be on the list.

You can bet that "the list" from the S-S will be released shortly. And soon after that, we'll see "the list" from The Post's next round of amputations.

Get used to it.

From this point forward, we're going to see "a list" from one of the South Florida dailies regularly.

This is the way our industry is going to go out: executive-level managers systematically sawing-off the extremities of their respective organizations until nothing is left but a headless torso.

Then, they'll shrug their shoulders in unison and say, 'Oh, well.'

It's ugly, but it's true.

Yes -- and thanks for the correction.

I think the readers should make their recommendations of who goes next... Most of these people will be missed terribly.. If we had our pick, we could come up with a nice list of writers whose absence wouldnt leave such a gaping hole the news coverage. The Herald is in trouble with these choices... Lets start an online poll and tell them who WE want out instead!

To the anonymous person who thinks the Herald should stop paying my salary: The Herald doesn't pay me a salary, and hasn't for years. I do the blog for free, and when I write stories or cover events, I sometimes, but not always, get paid a modest fee. And my "private secretary" isn't a private secretary: she's a part-time administrative assistant who answers my mail and phone, as well as Leonard Pitts' mail and phone; she also performs other duties for the Herald. And she, like you, needs her job.
As for my wife and son: they're both hard-working, award-winning journalists, and I don't understand why you think that they should be fired solely because they happen to be connected to me. My son supports himself, and, like you, he needs his job.
I'd be happy to discuss any of this with you further, if you had the courage to identify yourself.

I saw the handwriting on the Fourth Estate Wall when it showed cracks in 1997 when I retired from The Herald after 35 years of mostly editing and some writing. Many good, fellow journalists moved on to other papers and quite a few replacements didn't match the quality of their predecessors.

For those opposed to publishing the list, I offer two words: Full Disclosure. Those two words were never part of The Herald's corporate creed. Alas, newspapers and TV often leaks names galore as part of their news coverage not to mention gossip.

What's the difference between professional sports teams and newspapers. Pro teams routinely fire their managers and coaches instead of their players while some are traded. And pro leagues expand or replace franchises while printed papers contract or fold.

Agree with all, including Dave, who felt the shots at him and his family were completely and utterly unwarranted, for what it's worth.

It would be nice if no one family pulled more than one liveable wage out of a newspaper as strapped financially as the Herald (or almost any of them). Do the Barrys "need" all the money they're pulling out of that place, in one form or another? Probably not.

But it would be nice, too, if no one executive pulled an exorbitant salary -- three, four, five or 10 times what a working journalist might reap -- out of a financially strapped newspaper, either. How does Anders or anyone else near the top of the food chain there justify his fat paycheck when Biscayne Bay is red with Herald newsfolks' blood and balance-sheet debts?

Should Mrs. Barry quit? Should she just work for free, in the wild chance that some other journalist who has to support a family on one income might stay employed? Well, that would be nice, but having the fat cats rebate half their salaries to save jobs would be nice too. And that ain't going to happen either.

At this point, it's every man, woman, Anders and Barry for him or herself.

Hey! Why pick on the Barry clan but not the Gyllenhaals? If the former ought to get by on Dave's income, can't Anders just sponge off Jake and Maggie?

Lots of people like to post anonymously on these journalism boards. It's sort of a strange pattern.

They never come out of the shadows and identify themselves. It's pretty sad.

The best one is the Gannett Blog, where almost everyone posts as Anonymous, so you have people being identified as "Anon 3:16" or "Anon 12:27."

It's sort of a tragicomic statement about today's dysfunctional newsrooms, where "good fits" rather than good journalists have been hired for far too long. Now the "good fits" haven't developed any skills, but they have to try to find other work. They and the company are worse off because they were hired in the first place.

When I was laid off from my (online) media job on December 31, 2008, the first thing I did was post new of my layoff -- and sudden availability for freelance work -- on my LinkedIn and Facebook pages.

Guess what? People are hiring me for all kinds of projects. Some are large, some are small, but add them up and I'm taking in enough $$ to survive.

So sure, list my name among the layoff victims. And, please, make sure you tell everyone you know that I'm a skilled writer, editor, ook author, and videographer (with a strong IT/science writing background) looking for work.

:)

Robin 'Roblimo' Miller
Bradenton, Floriduh
robin@roblimo.com

To see the names of Dan Christensen and Lisa Gibbs on this list leaves me horrified. I worked with both at the Daily Business Review in the early 1990s, and better journalists don't exist. Truly, the industry is consuming its muscle tissue.

Also, count me among those who believe it's appropriate to list the names. Providing basic information for an interested audience is, of course, what reporting's all about.

Dave,

Why waste your time responding to moronic comments from someone who goes by "Anonymous"?

It's unfortunate the Herald had to lay these people off rather than offering them a decent buyout. Say what you want about The Palm Beach Post, but as one of 270 or so people who took buyouts recently, we were treated much more respectably and weren't pressured to accept the offer. In fact, most of those who declined are still working there, although that could change at any moment. I was one of the lucky ones who had my choice of jobs after the buyout. Am as I as happy now as I was working for the Post? No, but I've embraced my new career with the same gusto I used to report the news. I must say, working as a journalist for the past two decades has trained me better to work outside the industry than any other training program possibly could have. I hope others displaced will adopt this same attitude as they search for new jobs. Don't fight it -- change is inevitable in all we do.

thanks for the hat tip Bob.

Dave,

Wow. The kids sure are turning vicious in the Fourth Estate sandbox.

Nice comment (and admirable) on your behalf to the annoyingly presumptuous poster.

My other half is a national award-winning journalist here in Minneapolis. As everywhere else, we are feeling the tension of an uncertain future in the newsroom.

Keep your humor flowing, buddy. In times like these, pointing out the bright and sunny side is a needed and precious gift.

Somehow, I feel Faulkner's Nobel Prize acceptance speech is bleeding.

Your humor is a healing bandage.

sorry, I meant conjecture. Actually none of us can spell. That's why we have spellcheck.
;P

1. Please, we all need kindness now more than anything. Be compassionate to each other.

2. Could FSNE or SPJ consider creating some sort of ex-journalists-in-crisis fund that folks who have kept their job, like myself, could contribute to? I'd give as much as possible to help keep a less-fortunate former colleague from getting evicted or having their car repossessed. Let's be honest: there are almost no jobs out there right now.

Let's get organized and help each other. There but for the grace of chance goes any one of us.

Dave Barry's son -- and I don't know Dave at all except for waving in the hallway a couple times -- is one of the best two or three computer minds I've seen at work at any newspaper, ever. And the hardest working. If it's a sweetheart family deal, it's in the Herald's favor, not the other way around.

And on top of all the bloodletting, the Times/Herald merged bureau announces it is hiring....an employee in the governor's press office to work in the bureau that covers the governor.
http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2009/03/colavecchio-ret.html

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/index.php/topic,67740.0.html

People who want to see a textbook example of what happens when people are allowed to post anonymous attacks should go to the above link.

For years, that board has been filled with lots of tough guys -- just so long as they don't have to post with a name. Or stick to the facts. Or write coherently. Or spell properly.

It's quite sad. Someone could do a great story about that place.

Assuming that wasn't sarcasm font, good on you DeGroot.

Like HeraldGraduate, I must say I'm a little shocked at what's happening here. I didn't see this yesterday because I was a little busy grieving for my friends and colleagues.

I would like to add a couple things to this rather uncivil discourse, though.

First, anyone who signs on here anonymously solely for the purpose of trashing a colleague is a coward. Especially now. Look, go to Mike's with your friends if you want, and trash away. But don't come on a public blog and hammer your co-workers on what is possibly the worst day of their professional careers.

Second, why now? Can't we all maintain just a little civility while the sky is falling around us? Now, more than ever, we need to stick together. If we turn on each other, the atmosphere here will be even more toxic. Nobody will ever accuse me of being a brown-nose, I hope, but let's remember that even the bosses you can't stand had to make terrible choices: steeper pay cuts, or more job losses. This was a profoundly zero-sum game here, and management was going to be screwed no matter what they did.

And last: I confess I don't know what it's like to have my name splashed across a blog on what is arguably the worst day of my career. But anyone in my newsroom who thinks Norman is wrong in printing names is a hypocrite.

As the president of the South Florida chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, I would like to offer my condolences to those who were laid off. And to tell you that we are planning on starting a support group and email listserve for displaced South Florida journalists, to share information and help each other. So if anyone would be interested in such things, please email me.
We are having a board meeting Monday night to discuss these issues and others. If anyone wants to come, they are welcome.

Julie Kay
jkay50@hotmail.com

"Wenalway, it should be noted, no longer posts at sportsjournalists.com because he couldn't stop picking fights with anyone and everyone.

And he didn't post under his real name, either."

Yet another case of someone from sj.com posting false stuff anonymously. You guys just can't break your bad habits, can you?

Let me set you straight on that one. I stopped posting because two people -- whom I could name here but won't -- violated outing and libel rules repeatedly, with no consequences from any of the moderators. The only way to put it to a stop was to leave.

I should also point out that like Michelle Kaufman today, people often have to register under their real names simply to refute nonsense and lies at sj.com. I could name three or four off the top of my head, and I'm sure there have been others.

So your attempt to use a personal attack to deflect from the point -- another standard sj.com tactic -- is noble, but it fails in this case.

The point remains: That board is a place for anonymous, gutless posters to hide in the shadows and to throw rocks at named people, many of whom probably do not fit into the definition of a public figure.

Again, someone should do a story about that site. It could be a great one.

P.S.: No, I didn't post under my real name. One reason was it didn't matter, as someone would inevitably violate the "no outing" rule, with no consequences. Thus, there was no need to sign with my name. Again, nice try, but not really much of a response to my points. Next time, get some facts, avoid the personal, ad hominem attacks, and try again.

Thanks, Former Staffer, for illustrating exactly what I'm talking about.

Those types of posts occur on a daily basis at sportsjournalists.com.

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/index.php/topic,49381.0.html

One example of several for what I'm talking about.

Hello ... I worked at the Herald as a feature writer in Living Today from 1976 through part of '79 ... and have followed it off and on since.

I scanned the list and there was one person on it who's probably the last one left of the colleagues I knew back then.

So Georgia, congratulations on your lengthy career and the fine job you did year in and year out in writing about plants and gardens ... an important topic in the South Florida outdoorsy lifestyle. I'm sure your readers will miss you.

I think this is the third devastating editorial cutback within a short period. The Herald seemed to survive the first one, it has staggered with the second one and this latest one, I'm afraid, will wipe it out as a journalistic force. .. (I'm saying that just as a frequent reader, that's all).

I'm proud of you too, Tonii Kelly. You have worked tirelessly for The Miami Herald for decades, you've put up with a lot, and you've done it with grace and kindness. You will be sorely, sorely missed. And you too, Brenda Muncy. And Daisey Harris. And so on.

I worked in that newsroom for just shy of five years. Had the time of my life, thanks to the countless hardworking folks who appear on the above list (and the ones that have been listed before it). It truly breaks my heart to see what's happening in Miami. When good people go, good content goes with them.

I am reading these comments from San Diego, where we are approaching a fourth round of layoffs. I gotta say, some of you folks have some serious rage issues. Who gives a shit of a reporter prints a list of names of people being laid off? You should have far more serious things to bitch about -- like losing your job.

For the record, [Wenalway] has been kicked off SportsJournalists at least five times. He's outed some of us on his precious little site, and stalked a few of us, threatening to out us to our bosses. He's been fired from several jobs, and no paper will hire him. "Asshole" is probably the nicest term for him.

You journalists are a bunch of self-centered crybaby assholes. All you people do is cry about your fuckin writers and all that bullshit when there are many more people losing their job that work in other depts. They have as much to do with getting the paper out as you do....maybe more. Newsrooms in these sorry ass newspapers in South Florida are like a fuckin Peyton Place. Misearble assholes.

As someone who's been humiliated and has gone through all the layoff questions -- why me? why not him? what was it that they saw so little value in me? Did they ever seek to consider me for other skill sets? -- I have several suggestions for all of you.

1. Put all that rage and creative juice to work thinking of a business model -- any business model -- that can help you and your colleagues. And I don't mean news aggregation sites and blogs.
2. Sit down and seriously think -- those of you still safely ensconced in the Herald Building whose last name isn't Barry -- what fallback you're going to have when your time comes. Because it will. Make the damn contacts NOW NOW NOW. Do the legwork NOW NOW NOW. Your home equity won't last you that long. Some of you have been seduced in thinking there's a vision out there that your leaders have -- there isn't, and any promises they make for you are written in water. Shit, your company is for sale with some of the best real estate in South Florida and there's no takers. Grow up.
3. As you're making those plans send tips, leads, ideas, anything you got to your friends and colleagues who need them most. There's good kharma there -- you help them now, it will bounce back to you later.
4. Some of you may be worried that there is a conflict or fear that your bosses will learn you are moonlighting, making contacts, etc in prep for your coming afterlife. Don't. These assholes can't manage a newspaper -- do you really think they're spending any time wondering what your safety plan is or hacking into your email?
5. Talk to as many people as you can outside of journalism who run businesses. Do a lot of that, because I can tell you the advice I hear coming from many emeritus editors, journalism thinkers, Poynterites, Knightites, displays such a naivete for business and entrepreneurial activity that I want to send them back to high school where they can do little harm. You want to talk to people who are self-starters, who have built something from scratch, not retired editors. Who do you want building your ship -- the guys who just sunk theirs?

Good Luck, and Godspeed

As noted above, the herald's beloved Action Line column may be axed. Both writers have been given the option of going part time or taking the severance package.

Let's see if I'm reading this correctly: If the Miami Herald has any sort of long-term future, it's by expanding its online presence. Yet they go and fire their Online Department Head who, by all accounts, was doing an excellent job? That certainly sounds like a brilliant move (not).

Who will replace her, upper management guys who are probably clueless when it comes to websites and the Internet?

Bob, you have got to fix this site. Every time a comment is made on a posting, that posting should go back to the top of the page.

Anyway, this says it all:

http://blogs.chicagoreader.com/news-bites/2009/03/12/she-wrote-wall-street-journal-she-wrote-tribune/

I second the comments from "Not quite" -- good riddance!

I haven't been fired from any jobs. But thanks for illustrating exactly what I'm talking about: The posters at sj.com are gutless, anonymous cowards who make up lies and post them.

Yes, I have outed a few people. And I plan to out more.

And yes, I will pass along information to editors. They should know what kind of gutless cowards they have hired. They should know that people in their sports deaprtment cannot write, cannot get time references right to save their lives, and that they think 15 seconds of thought about a 5-second sound bite passes for in-depth analysis.

Later, I'll post another link to yet another thread where someone had to post under their real name to refute the same lies that the sj.com cowards circulate.

If this makes me an asshole, then I welcome the compliment. But I don't feel bad about standing up to a bunch of gutless pricks who apparently are so bitter about their jobs and/or their lack of ability to do their jobs that they have to create an anonymous comment board where they commit libel and show how totally clueless they are about the material they pretend to be covering.

I worked at the Herald for three years in 1988-1990. It was a great joy to work at the Herald and when I left i thought I really had fucked up. I could have had a job for life. Never in my wildest dreams did I think the herald would sink. Then McClatchy bought the paper and I knew that was a bad sign. I worked for the Bee before the Herald and I always thought McClatchy did not know what it was doing. It was a shit company and coming to work at the Herald and Knight Ridder seemed like a blessing from god ( who does not exist by the way)

I live in Europe now and on my way to Latin America I always flew into Miami and bought the herald and I watched its decline. Its not alone. I can honestly say that the only newspaper that has not dumbed down in the last 20 years seems to be the NY Times.

The rise of the internet was in conjunction with trying to please readers to the detriment of what they needed to know. Newspapers and their parent companies have gone for the quick buck and lost sight of their important role in a democratic society. to inform the electorate to make smart decisions come election day.

I joined the Herald when the Miami News was closed down. That was the story in my day, that cities could no longer support 2 or more newspapers. Now its doubtful whether any city can support a single newspaper.

Whatever happens, with a positive attitude everyone who loses a job at the herald will survive. I dont think you realize what amazing skills one has as a journalist and they can be transplanted to many areas of life.

Keep you chin up. There is a life after the Herald.

And be nice. No need to be mean on this Blog. except of course to the dumbasses that run McClatchy.

Cheers from London

Antonio

p.s. I love Dave Berry,

Thanks for the update, Wenalway.

I agree, I hate those gutless cowards who insist on being anonymous.

Like you, for example.

So I can call you Rob again from now on? And did you ever find anyone who would actually hire you again after the stuff you pulled?

Go away, little boy.
And leave journalism to the professionals.

Please don't feed the trolls.

What a sad situation I see at papers all over the country. Particularly sad is this company's management, when they let go a excellent talented photographer of 21 years but keep a virtual newby

Who is this Wenalway person, and how did this thread become all about him?

Enough about Wenalway, OK? If he doesn't post under his own name, he's as big a loser as those he mocks.

Can we get back to Miami Herald now?

Thank you.

Penny McCrea and Monica Roos -- the Action Line team -- are being turned into part-timers now. Their names should go on the list too.

Action Line always has all the work it can handle, and more -- doing good things for good people.

The Herald has decided that the Action Line service is only half as important anymore.

I say Action Line is more important now than ever. Call th Herald. Demand it back.

Holy shit, this bitch toad is back again!

Bashing people who hide under screen names while he hides under his screen name!

Promises a link up front and then can't find it at the end!

>

Get some professional help, Rob, and I do mean that right now and right now this week.

Patience, grasshopper. The link will get posted. (BTW, I believe I said I will find the link, not that I couldn't. Those two statements are complete opposites; your reading comprehension seems to be poor.) You can even find a link yourself if you know where to look.

Also, your short post is filled with contradictions. I'd say you should be the one getting help. Your local community college probably offers some writing, journalism, and logic classes. You should start there and try to pay attention this time around.

DallasBred:

I don't worry too much about cowardly anonymous posters who make physical threats. Sorry.

I'll make a counteroffer: You go punch out someone else's teeth. Then you'll be in jail or prison, and society will be better off.

If you're in Illinois, you know this puke.

Google Rob Knilands.

What a douchebag.

Johnny is another Internet tough guy -- just so long as he doesn't have to use "his" name.

A better man than I said this: "I'd be happy to discuss any of this with you further, if you had the courage to identify yourself."

You don't have the courage.

Pathetic. But very amusing. I love the Internets!

I'd say you are a total moron.

Tell you what -- you made the threat, so you ID yourself first. Let me know if that frightens you too much.

I'll help, you - Chuck! Bring 'em on!

I don't know or care who or what this Wenalway person is, but there was no reason to hijack this thread. I can't get information on who's been affected at The Herald anywhere else but here. I have to troll through this muck, hoping someone will remember what the hell this is about to begin with: people who have lost their jobs. We care about each other and want to be sure everyone will be okay. Bottom line: fuck the suits, and ignore this other dweeb.

To try and direct these comments back to the actual topic and not someone's weird personal vendetta, here's my two cents:

1. Getting rid of Shelley Acoca is the stupidest thing the Herald could do right now.

2. A Miami without a major newspaper will be a sorry city. If there was no Herald around to even shed a glimmer of light on what's going on downtown and in Tallahassee, Miami's future looks bleak.

Good luck to those who were cut in this round of layoffs. And yes, I used my real name.

There's no shame in being laid off -- especially in circumstances like these. Bob's simply doing his job by reporting the news. And this part of the news is why you're reading the blog, isn't it?

I've rubbed shoulders with practically every name on the list. They all are fine professionals and our community will be the poorer for losing their work. I pray that journalism reinvents itself somehow to preserve the vital flow of information that sustains our democracy.

At least posters' (fake?) names are affixed to the top of their comments, so we can ignore those who are obnoxious.

I just wanted to be the last to post on this thread.

Ah, another idiot who can't figure out how to filter out the anonymous comments that have no basis in fact.

Just chiming in to say that, unlike a previous poster named Javier, this Javier supports Bob's reportage.

I myself was laid off in October. I didn't mind that Jeff Kleinman included my name in the list that went around the newsroom. Rather, I appreciated that he took the time to acknowledge me and my work in his note. The suits screwed me, not my colleagues. Or Bob for that matter, who included me on his list on this blog. Colleagues with whom I had long parted ways looked me up, and it was good hearing from them.

It saddens me to see that some of my former co-workers are on that list. These are tough times, and some very talented people lost their jobs. I'm also glad to see that others escaped the axe for now, but must unfortunately carry a heavier burden.

I won't go down as the friendliest copy editor ever (which is saying a lot), but I consider that all journalists are, in a sense, my extended family. It's a strange world we work in, one that only a journalist would comprehend. Like it or not, we are a community and it always concerns me when something like this happens.

And I don't see how there can be any logic in calling for Dave Barry's job or that of his family members. Few people have done more the Herald than Dave Barry. I don't envy him his success and I don't need or desire any more company in the unemployment line.

I also echo the concern about the Herald's top-heavy management (true at most newspapers). In all my time there, I couldn't really figure out what, if anything, Rick Hirsch did. Bottom line is that when an organization is hurting as badly as most papers are, it can't afford to pay people to pontificate. If you don't produce something tangible, you're expendable.

I should also note that in October, when I was laid off, we were told that a round of management cuts would follow in January. That round of cuts never materialized, and here we are again -- months later -- cutting more hard-working people while management remains virtually intact. That's just not right.

/end rant

Sad history:
The layoffs and the buyouts actually began under Knight-Ridder in the late 1990s, when a corporate lawyer by the name of Alberto Ibarguen came from New York (after helping slay Newsday) and took over first of El Nuevo Herald and then The Miami Herald. His mission: to increase by whatever means necessary the returns on the investors who had stock in the company. Now, this closet case (no groans here please, this is the worst-kept secret in the industry) who loves to appear in The Herald's social pages sits comfortably at the Knight Foundation giving out money that supposedly will save the business and take it into the future. Please. What nerve, what hipocrisy.
In the meantime, the creature that he helped kill gets rid of good journalists, only to leave behind people like... Fabiola Santiago? Lydia Martin? Rene Rodriguez? Christine Dolen? El Nuevo Herald's staff, or whatever remains of it?
The patient is dying; accept it, deal with it. Now, revive it in an online format only, and be bold, brave, not with many of the same folks that are still there, but with those that can take it into a new direction. Otherwise, worse than death, will be total irrelevance.

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