"I have 24 years until I can probably retire, and I bet I'll never see a W-2 that says
more than $50,000 ever again."
more than $50,000 ever again."
-- Former Tucson Citizen reporter MJ McVay, who took a 50% pay cut to become news editor at The Advertiser-Tribune in Tiffin, Ohio. McVay was one of 65 employees fired a year ago, after Gannett shuttered the Arizona paper, according to a new story in Tucson Weekly. She was one of only five who found jobs in journalism, and one of only 21 who got full-time work of any kind.
MJ was nothing more than a cost center to Gannett. It's not about the journalism, the civic responsibility, or the watchdog factor. In Gannett's bean-counting, stock price-pumping mindset, workers are just means to accomplish financial goals, and when their cost-vs.-return ratio gets too high, their names are entered in red and are deleted at first opportunity.
ReplyDeleteYep, it's tough out there. I only have a few years until retirement, but I have to survive in the meantime! I'm doing some freelancing -too bad there's such a lag between the work and the check! - and looking for a fulltime job with benefits. I'm likely to end up in retail sales!
ReplyDeleteI'm still optimistic, though. I'm not one to moan and groan. It is what it is, and I have to do my best.
I would suggest that MJ leave the news business. If she really has 25 years until retirement, there are many, many jobs in other industries that will pay her more than $25,000 a year. Even $15 an hour would be a raise and many industries have entry level work that pays better than that.
ReplyDeleteYou can't blame anyone for taking whatever they can find in this market, but this is also a good time to be working toward a future in something else. If you're only making $25,000 a year in newspapers and you have more than five years experience, you would be wise to leave immediately.
Gannett - where newspaper careers go to die!
ReplyDelete