UPDATE 7:30: Buyouts at the C-J have been accepted by food columnist Pableaux Johnson and Diane Heilemann in Features, according to my sources. So rumors that the Features department would be severely cut appear to be true.
UPDATE 4:25 — Looks like several newsroom staffers are taking buyouts. Add to the list reporter Linda Stahl from Features and Bill Wolfe from the Business page.
Word is beginning to trickle in from the Courier-Journal newsroom, and the news is that at least two staffers with long tenures and prominent bylines are clearing out this afternoon.
A company-wide meeting is being held as we speak, at 4 p.m. Byron Crawford, the long-time statewide columnist, is the first familiar name taking the Gannett buyout offer. I’m told that Crawford has written has final C-J column and won’t be back. Also, Indiana reporter Dick Kaukas will no longer be part of the C-J reporting staff as he’s taking the buyout offer.
I’ll update the story as warranted.
28 responses so far ↓
1 Guillotine day at the C-J - FatLip // Dec 2, 2008 at 5:17 pm
[…] Rick Redding at Ville Voice is reporting the first names in the C-J layoffs. Check it out. Posted by sgeorge on December 2, 2008 at 4:26 pm. Tags: Media, economyPermalink | Follow this […]
2 DB // Dec 2, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Please let two of the names be Hawpe and Betty Baye. They are two of the problems there.
3 btucker // Dec 2, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Cut Angie Fenton. Celebrities aren’t news, anyway.
4 john // Dec 2, 2008 at 8:41 pm
What, no cuts in the editorial department? Imagine that…
5 just saying... // Dec 2, 2008 at 8:47 pm
agree with btucker
6 IFFY SAYS // Dec 2, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Cancel the left leaning liberal piece of dog c**p.One morning before the election I counted 12 photos of Obama in front section.They called again tonight and wanted to know why I canceled the paper,told then Nov24 and again tonight.So put the heat on them its hurting,drop the rag.They backed OBAMA,Let His backers back the paper. That what IFFY SAYS
7 DB // Dec 2, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Agreed, IFFY. I cancelled a few months ago.
8 EC // Dec 2, 2008 at 10:12 pm
I would just like to say how pitiful the CJ is to start with. It should be embarrassing that this big-city wanna be has a paper that is smaller than the Denton-Record Chronicle daily paper(pop. 115,000) I remember when there were writers, not AP,UPI,etc. How can you call yourself Possibility City? That’s almost laughable if it were not so sad. This is why this place will always remain Big City Hick Town.
9 sdf fan // Dec 2, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Hawpe, Baye, Platt…they all need to go. They have no ‘ear’ for this community and have accelerated the death spiral of their paper with corny liberal pablum. I could take well-thought liberal pablum, but their stuff is just unreadable. You can feel the condescension.
10 sdf fan // Dec 2, 2008 at 10:30 pm
That’s the magic of the internets, after all - when I want to read a thought-provoking liberal editorial, I have any number of online outlets I can go to for free. Why spend time reading F-listers?
11 Steve Magruder (I, not D or R) // Dec 2, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Hawpe the Embarrassment needs to go, and I’m a liberal!
12 j // Dec 2, 2008 at 10:51 pm
That’s it, isn’t it? F-listers. The sad part is that I find features fascinating, but not features on a guy who grows giant tomatos. I want to know who the writers, artists, innovative businessmen/women are; the people who play music venues around town (LEO does music, but that’s about all they do consistently well), comics in the clubs (yes, clubs, we have mulitple comedy clubs here… who would know?). The people of Louisville are an innovative people, Conserv, Lib, and fuck-all-parties types. Obama backers won’t support CJ because it’s a dumbed down paper. McCain backers won’t because they didn’t like their guy. LEO is a waste these days. Blogs are OK, but again, not A-list writers on this particular blog, let’s be honest. My hope, again, someone is on the brink of making that needed publication happen. And I think the city would jump all over it. The question is if anyone has the balls? (Stemle….you out there….?)
13 jlm // Dec 2, 2008 at 11:19 pm
I cancelled my paper November 5th and they have called me 3 times asking if it was something they did. Boy did I tell them. She actually listened and when I was done she said, “Well, if you change your mind, let us know.” Duh! I agree with all of you about Baye. She certainly doesn’t hide her dislike of white people, but she sure wants to live among them over on Hurstbourne Lane.
14 Shatner // Dec 3, 2008 at 5:45 am
Wow, half these posts sound like Sean Hannity m0nologes. You guys need to wipe the large capital L off of your foreheads, turn off talk radio and move out of your parents basement….
iffy, i bet youve never kissed a girl!
15 fireabramson // Dec 3, 2008 at 6:20 am
Would you expect anything better from the ultra liberals of Louisville. A city becoming so decrepit that it can’t pave its own streets. A city where people leave to find jobs and economic opportunities to better themselves rather than work at some 10 buck an hour warehouse job. No wonder Louisville is a joke with the hard core liberals running things.
Its amazing dealing with these liberals who have ran off every bit of decent paying business we have had over the years. They first ran off the manufacturing industries. Then the professional jobs. Now the retail and restaurant establishments are going down the tubes in mass because they don’t have the sustaining infrastructure and wages to pay the salaries and wages for the restaurant servers, owners, etc.
Its amazing that the people in this city are following the butt of the mayor especially as they are getting destroyed economically. Losing jobs, losing homes, and moving into some cramped apartment. Its pitiful when my college graduate cousin looks forever just to find some job that pays 11 or 12 bucks an hour. What a joke. The people running this city from top to bottom need to be forced out either by vote or fired by their respective companies. They have no vision. No character and above little or no decency. Lies and propaganda that all of them preach.
16 Gordon // Dec 3, 2008 at 9:54 am
I cancelled my subscription in October. Don’t miss it at all. If I need left leaning news reports, I can tune to NBC. By the way, I drove through Nashville last night. I remember about 28 years ago it was about the same size as Louisville. Since then it is a big time city! When did Jerry get elected the first time?
17 Mark // Dec 3, 2008 at 10:53 am
Wow, I didn’t know so many readers of this blog were Hannity/Fox news wannabees, and you know who you are.
If I can read through your vitriol, I find I agree with much of what you think about the CJ, and I am a liberal. However, your opinions lose credibility and interest when accompanied by name calling and labeling. Instead, it appears that your dislike for the CJ is based solely on the fact that they do not agree with your politics. You do exactly what you accuse the CJ of doing.
18 Anonymous // Dec 3, 2008 at 11:26 am
I don’t read the C-J for its editorials…I could care less who they endorse. I read it for local news. And I’m more conservative than liberal. There’s no local website that has more local news about the area than the C-J.
19 sdf fan // Dec 3, 2008 at 11:35 am
My problem isn’t really the politics, though I disagree with the C-J’s editorial board on a lot. It’s the unthinking and outright crude manner by which those politics are communicated, and the way those politics distort an accurate and valuable presentation of the day’s news. As just one example, there have been three C-J “cartoons” graphically labeling those who chose not to vote for Obama as racists. Imagine in 2003 if the C-J had run multiple cartoons by complete amateurs labeling opponents of the Iraq War as traitors using the most insipid and thoughtless imagery available. It would’ve been rightfully criticized as a Republican hack rag.
Story and picture placement are questionable; Pam Platt and Betty Baye’s editorials are consistently antagonistic and devoid of insight worth paying for. And the one-sided treatment of Senator McConnell hardly needs further explanation.
Mark, you pointed out that people’s “opinions lose credibility and interest when accompanied by name calling and labeling.” I would submit that this is precisely the problem with the C-J editorial staff: they lack the ability to deal with public affairs in a respectful and even-handed way, and the result is a newspaper no one wants to buy.
20 sdf fan // Dec 3, 2008 at 11:37 am
My problem isn’t really the politics, though I disagree with the C-J’s editorial board on a lot. It’s the unthinking and outright crude manner by which those politics are communicated, and the way those politics distort an accurate and valuable presentation of the day’s news. As just one example, there have been three C-J “cartoons” graphically labeling those who chose not to vote for Obama as racists. Imagine in 2003 if the C-J had run multiple cartoons by complete amateurs labeling opponents of the Iraq War as traitors using the most insipid and thoughtless imagery available. It would’ve been rightfully criticized as a Republican hack rag.
Story and picture placement are questionable; Pam Platt and Betty Baye’s editorials are consistently antagonistic and devoid of insight worth paying for. And the one-sided treatment of Senator McConnell hardly needs further explanation.
Mark, you pointed out that people’s “opinions lose credibility and interest when accompanied by name calling and labeling.” I would submit that this is precisely the problem with the C-J editorial staff: they lack the ability to deal with public affairs in a respectful and even-handed way, and the result is a newspaper no one wants to buy.
21 Angela Merkel // Dec 3, 2008 at 11:55 am
I couldn’t care less about the C-J’s editorial page — the editorials are predictable, the letters to the editor are mostly from frothing wingnuts who are off their meds, and since the paper lost the NYT service, the op-ed columns are a sorry lot indeed. Cal Thomas? What a useful idiot!
The fact is that most of the local news that’s generated by any source is in the news pages of the C-J. How else are you going to find out about what’s going on in the community and in Frankfort? TV is good for murders, fires and weather and not much else. Local radio news is almost nonexistent, especially on AM; FM has WFPL, and that’s what? 3 to 5 minutes of local updates here and there. There is some original news on blogs — I’m thinking of this one and Page One and LEO — but none of the blogs have the people or the resources to inform people about a lot of local topics. (Just look at this site — most weekdays it posts a roundup of items, most of which are links to the C-J and other area media.)
The sad thing is that these cuts, and others that will happen next year — yes, there will be more layoffs; Gannett has said as much in its financial postings — will have the effect of crippling the region’s most comprehensive provider of local news. And the irrelevant, infuriating, whatever ya think, Hawpe, Bayh, etc., aside, that’s a tragedy.
22 Steve Magruder (I, not D or R) // Dec 3, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Angela, I think you’re selling the C-J long on its coverage of local issues. They only cover a few highlights of neighborhood issues, and never seem to have the ability to dig in deep enough and actually understand the issues with which they are reporting. And the coverage is only getting thinner with time.
On top of that, it is well-known that the C-J is essentially the mayor’s stenographer, and I don’t just mean the editorial board, but also the reporting staff who usually refuse to investigate or question anything this mayor feeds them.
And as for the editorial board, I am probably more liberal than they are, but I don’t appreciate their high school (or even sometimes pre-school) approach to how they denigrate people (ex: Mitch McConnell) or groups (ex: 8664) they don’t like with childish attack phrasing. Louisville deserves an editorial board with a responsible, intelligent, adult mindset, and we’re not getting it.
23 sdf fan // Dec 3, 2008 at 1:25 pm
I agree that the local/local sports coverage is important, and I hope the C-J will survive for those purposes, and perform those tasks well. They are the only source for this news. If I were philosopher-king of the C-J, I would rebuild with incredible local and state coverage first and foremost.
Steve’s post above hits the nail on the head re: the editorial board.
24 Steve Magruder (I, not D or R) // Dec 3, 2008 at 1:38 pm
I agree with sdf fan that if the C-J starts a much deeper focus into local and state coverage, they will get back onto a sustainable path. Of course, they also need to stop palling around with this mayor and do some investigating.
25 howiseeit // Dec 3, 2008 at 2:57 pm
They could go back to much deeper focus into local and state coverage, but the problem is their reporting is unfair and biased. How true that they are in the Mayor’s pocket. Their reporting on this last election was pitiful to say the least. Would we ever get the truth from them or a fair report of both sides of the story. I somehow doubt it.
26 Henry Watterson // Dec 3, 2008 at 5:27 pm
I agree with you guys. That’s why I get all my news from the comment sections on second-tier blogs. For example, did you know that Obama is a Muslim? I also read that your stomach explodes if you mix Pop Rocks with Coca-Cola.
27 Steve Magruder (I, not D or R) // Dec 3, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Henry, thanks for the white noise. You contributed exactly nothing to the discussion.
28 sdf fan // Dec 3, 2008 at 8:18 pm
I learned from this comment section that Henry just completed his freshman year of college! Nice work Henry! Maybe someday if you keep leaving SUPER clever comments you can work for a first-tier POS newspaper.
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