*CBS Corporate in NY talking about across-the-board layoffs at 855 Battery, including middle and lower-level staff.
*Reporters, a few anchors and producers on the list.
*Karnow , the first of many.
*Cutbacks in management--two senior EP's and a manager.
*"Night Beat" in trouble; could lose at least three key staffers and is designated for a complete overhaul.
*Developing...
*Follow me on Twitter
Game Over for Night Beat.
ReplyDeleteLayoffs are always rough, but they can be especially brutal over the Holidays.
When I worked at KRON they ALWAYS did them right before the holidays. Brutal fuckers.
DeleteLots of companies do that to make the numbers look better. Telxon used to do it every year.
DeleteJust make the numbers = no lay-offs
DeleteGAME ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat's sad is they'll probably lay off good people and the deadwood will stay. It's been that way everywhere I've worked. The Mr. and Ms. Reliables, the people who I'd go to when I really needed to get something done right, were let go first. The ass-kissers who were very bad at doing their job but very good at defending it, stayed on. Many of them are still at the stations where I worked, 15 years later, while the people I always thought were gifted and hard-working have gone into other fields
ReplyDeleteYou nailed it. This is why local TV news has gotten worse, not better. Corporate media bosses have neutered newsrooms. There was a time where there were hearty and passionate debates over how news should be covered. These days if you pose even the slightest challenge, you're considered insubordinate or a troublemaker. It's in a journalist's DNA to challenge authority and to be skeptical. That's why newscasts have become so cookie cutter lacking context, critical thinking, and real reporting. I will say one of the exception's is Wayne Freedman. He had a really good story tonight on the Oakland protests ... filled with context and critical thinking.
Delete> These days if you pose even the slightest challenge, you're considered
Delete> insubordinate or a troublemaker.
So true. You're expected to defend the company line, but act as though you arrived at that conclusion yourself. Safety in numbers. Just what people do when they're cowards and fear for their jobs, but want to appear strong and independent.
What should be understood here is that whenever a Company has to resort to firing people en masse, it is usually indicative of a total failure of it's LEADERSHIP and MANAGEMENT and it's overall business plan. The Corporate micro-managing stooges at the CBS Corporate level have never had a clue about how to run their local stations and a zero understanding about the differences in their local markets.
ReplyDeleteAt this stage, with younger demo audiences abandoning Local news in favor of the Internet, the same stooges are becoming ever more desperate to look good to the stockholders. Theirs is a fruitless effort to sustain a business model of yesteryear, in an age that's left that model in a ditch several years ago. They have been reduced to pandering and pimping to a lowest common denominator audience, spoon feeding a very comfortable and irrelevant "News You Want To See", as opposed to important and often disturbing and unsettling news you NEED to see. The late Edward R. Murrow would cringe if he saw what's become of Network and local television news in the 21st Century. Mr. Karnow, you have more than likely been blessed by being terminated.
Nailed it beautifully, especially the whole My this My that My News thing. I can take cold comfort in a process by which Those who do not wish to be upset, i.e. an uninformed electorate with their customized news, keep electing dangerously stupid candidates who are bound to create even more upsetting news down the line anyway.
DeleteJust another name under "expendable " on a Corporate excel spreadsheet.........
ReplyDelete