Paulson, 55 (left), spoke candidly last month about Corporate's role in USAT's layoffs -- remarks that might have sounded disloyal to The 11th Floor. "Here is what happens when editors refuse to go along with the sort of drastic cuts at USAT that Corporate wanted,'' wrote Anonymous@1:52 p.m.Anonymous@2:47 p.m. warned: "This opens the door for the weasels to get full traction at USAT, while the best staff continue to flee." Anonymous@3:15 p.m. agreed: "The last barrier between the USA Today newsroom and Mama Gannett's long-knifed kissers of Wall Street butt is now being removed."
Nonsense, Paulson told The New York Times in a just-published story: "I know these are dark days in the business, but I’m not running away from anything. This is the only job that would have convinced me to leave USA Today."
Feel our pain, USAT
Paulson's departure comes at a time when USA Today's relatively meager layoffs this month fueled resentment among some employees at the smaller community dailies. They said workers at the No. 1 circulation newspaper have enjoyed cushy lives too long.
Now that everyone else is doing more with less, this argument goes, USAT should be forced to sacrifice more, too. (Note: I strongly disagree.) For example, during this month's companywide layoff, many papers lost 7% or more of their jobs. But USA Today has only publicly disclosed 20 layoffs -- all in the newsroom -- from a total workforce of perhaps 1,500 to 2,000 people. I think the actual number of layoffs could be as high as 75 to 100, however.Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.
With some of the people who have left USA Today in recent weeks and months, the brand will certainly change. Those left behind are in jeopardy of being slammed with work and long days. Their reward for that will be their eventual walking papers. Don't make the mistake of thinking that doing what you are told or holding up more than your fair share of the workload will protect you. It won't.
ReplyDeleteThis is no longer an honorable place to work. Too many lies and too many losses of people with knowledge and integrity will take a toll. I fully expect USA Today to become a second-rate brand in whatever form it takes.
Does Paulson count as one of the 20 to be cut? Where are the others. Whitmire says he's taking a buyout, so shoes are beginning to drop?
ReplyDeleteSeriously - only 20 cut from USAT? And only from the newsroom? Didn't you see a few other posts about layoffs in marketing and circulation? You need to dig a little more on this one because A LOT more spots were eliminated, even in the HR department.
ReplyDeleteThe comment about "cushy" jobs in your post is way off the mark. I've worked at both a small Gannett community newspaper and at USAT, and let me tell you that there is NO DIFFERENCE. Maybe 10 years ago there was, but not now.
ReplyDeleteFunny how Paulson and Kinsey Wilson and some others claim to not be running away from a dark industry, yet that is exactly what they have done. Good for them, but... So their advice to us is to hang in there at USAT while they collect fat paychecks in another business or enjoy retirement on the lake? Are they kidding? We know exactly what they are running from and it's time we wake up and smell the stink. They are running from a burning building and telling us to stay put and not to worry. When will the lies stop? Unlike them, many of us don't have fat bank accounts to fall back on. When we get laid off or driven out, we're on our own. We don't have plush jobs awaiting. If these guys wanted to go out with any honor, they'd advise us to begin looking for the exit door and not wait for the next round of layoffs. Instead, they play this PR game right to the end.
ReplyDelete7:27 Not only shoes are going to drop, but boots, sandals, Birkenstocks, Crocs, ballet booties and running shoes. You will simply not believe what is about to come down on our heads.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the lack of layoffs at the USA today site are because there is some plan brewing to make it the central editing spot for all of gannets smaller papers.
ReplyDeleteif this is the case then they will be doing more with a lot less
(no point in having 16 separate copy desks)
I would not bet on John Hillkirk moving up to editor. USAT has a history of passing over executive editors when filling that top job.
ReplyDeleteThe next usat editor has to be good at two things: embracing all that is digital and firing/laying off those connected to the print past (they cost too much). The next editor is going to have to have the stomach for deep cuts and therefore might be a short-timer who slashes, burns and then rides off into the sunset after year. Regardless of who it is, there has already been too much damage done at usat with the loss of some very talented and dedicated people. The new editor won't be able to reverse that. In fact, with the way usat is moving, the position of editor will be somewhat meaningless. This isn't a newspaper anymore, it's lab experiment run by managers who have survived because of all the ass they have kissed. It's a broken down newsroom with mid-managers who are in way over their heads. It's a brand that has turned the car keys over to "kids" who never covered a beat or laid out page, let alone managed anything. It's a place that still harbors a few graybeards who quietly operate in fear and disgust. A company that on one hand bends the rules on age discrimination but on the other hand goes to great lengths to reach diversity ratios, despite whether the people they hire have any talent whatsoever. Ken, Kinsey, J. Ford, Gary, Frank...they all saw what was coming. They had a front row seat to seeing the future. And despite their claims of not running from anything, that is exactly what they and others did. I would suggest that anyone with an ounce of journalistic ability stay clear of usat. It was never the Times or Post, but it's hitting new lows in lack of know how. This is a brand that now recruits people for all the wrong reasons. It's nightmare of a place to work for anyone with values. The many people who have left knew that and would have served others well in sharing those insights, but they didn't. They protected themselves, didn't burn any bridges and more or less told us everything was going to be fine when obviously it wasn't and isn't. I no longer can believe any manager at this place, no matter how much they pretend to care. They have a hidden agenda and it isn't inclusive of most of us, regardless of what they say. They are going to use us some more, then suddenly, without warning, spit us out. It's shocking how fast the very people who pretend to care about you can turn on you. This is a toxic workplace, filled with wolves in sheep's clothing. Beware!
ReplyDelete9:40 I could not have said it better. Success has made USAT a very strange place to work, and there is now a peculiar "survival of the fittest" atmosphere, played by rules that I really don't understand. Telling tales on colleagues and backstabbing is encouraged like no other newsroom I have ever seen, yet managers are paranoid that some days the tables are going to be turned on them as well. They don't care about experience and dismiss the value of expertise in beats because they believe they have found the magic news formula and they can plug any reporter into their setup and it will work. In spite of what they say, what they are doing to Paulson shows there is no valued loyal employee here. He's done everything they wanted, except decimate the staff. We all know what is going to happen now.
ReplyDelete