Citizen Wausau

We Wish Them Well

by Dino Corvino on July 14th, 2009

Last week word came down that Gannett was again going to make another round of layoffs.  Across the board, all the big departments.  More newspaper blood letting.  The dwindling of the 4^th Estate (or whatever estate).

Word came down recently that two editors were moving on to other … oh why dress it up … two editors were losing their jobs.  One editor was moving to another paper, and 14 other people were let go.

So we say goodbye to Amy Olsen and Mark Multer.  We say, have a good time in Point, to Mark Baldwin.  You did a good job here.

The question becomes the change in the role of the publisher Mike Beck.  Now he has been named EDITOR/PUBLISHER.  These are two different roles in a traditional newspaper or media model.  One is focused on the newsroom, the other entirely focused on the business of the paper.  These have been exclusive role in the past.

Will Gannett, already a questionable journalism outlet, now fall deeper into advertiser-influenced coverage? With a non-journalist at the helm, this seem entirely possible.

We have something like the CW Hub, which has already gotten into a bit of hot water with a community website, coming to the forefront in what can only be considered a milquetoast version of itself.  The newspaper has vibrant and powerful voices, and the CW Hub (is this the new flagship?) seems to primarily be a sourced content website, where we essentially get stories from other places.

Is the point of having a local newspaper to have local coverage of news?  I thought it should be that way, but it seems that each year, we have less and less in the newsroom side, and less and less locally produced content.

The newspaper business is dying.  Just dying.  Like the record industry before it.  It is shame that our friends and community members are a part of the pain, and I am sorry they are having a tough time.