Parting Shots, or Where to Vent About Journalism
Some Ricochet readers have emailed me to express their appreciation for what’s become known as the “Landing on Your Feet List.”
You say you like the upbeat and forward-looking attitude of the post, and I thank you. But you also say you feel angry and blind-sided by widespread layoffs and want to know where you can let loose about the state of the industry at large.
Readers are welcome to post something in the moderated comments here with the usual caveats about language and personal threats. There are plenty of other places to vent as well, all well-read:
- CJR, the Columbia Journalism Review, has called for your thoughts in 1,500 words or less. So far, the entries have been sober.
- If you’re in the mood to rant without revealing your name, Kiyoshi Martinez’s AngryJournalist.com is the place for you. Anonymity guaranteed, according to the site.
- Romenesko at Poynter Online has been cataloging the slow demise of the newspaper industry and is considered one of the go-to sites for the latest trade news and gossip. Plenty of comments have been logged there.
- LA Times employees have been turning to TellZell for cathartic release. Other Tribune Co. blogs are linked in the “Everybody Has a Zell Sucks Blog” section.
Do you have a preferred site? Feel free to add it in comments.
What Comes After a Career at a Newspaper?*
A lot of journalists are losing their jobs due to the extreme measures news organizations are taking to preserve their business. It’s painful to read about, and harder still when they’re people you know from an organization you really enjoyed working for.
On Monday, the Los Angeles Times slashed 150 people from the editorial staff and 250 total in a second round of layoffs.
It’s been covered all over. There’s been a lot of anger, much heartache, and some glee.
But journalists by nature are resourceful people, so despite feeling very badly for my former colleagues, let’s look at where they’re headed next.
If you’d like to be included on the “Landing on Your Feet” list below — and you don’t have to be a former Times person to be included — post a comment or drop me a line with your name, where you were and what your plans are.
Update, Oct. 21: The American Journalism Review is conducting a survey to find out where journalists leaving the newspaper business are going. If you haven’t taken it yet, do so.
Update, Aug. 19: The Newspaper Escape Plan was unveiled on Facebook earlier this week. If you’ve been forced out of the business or are thinking of leaving, this discussion group might be for you.
Update, July 24: Thanks to all who’ve emailed privately about this post and asked for places to rant. You’ll find some recommendations here.
InkStainedRetch, who blogs at TellZell, posted the Times severance package on Scribd.
Tom Paegel, former LAT night city editor, is offering financial coaching to Times staffers who’ve recently lost their jobs. Contact him by email to make an appointment.
- LAT environmental reporter Marla Cone will lead a foundation-funded environmental reporting organization TBA.
- *Copy editor Karin Esterhammer is going to Vietnam to teach English, according to a post on LA Observed.
- *Bill Lobdell will blog about Orange County, Calif., at Lobdell’s O.C.. His opening salvo, “42 Things I Know,” was picked up by LA Observed and Romenesko. HarperCollins will release his book, “Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America,” in February. Lobdell, a former LAT Orange County edition reporter, is doing freelance work and can be contacted by email.
- Assistant sports editor Alex Kimball becomes senior editor covering the NFL at ESPN.com.
- Graphic designer Amy Martin is offering to redesign laid off colleagues’ resumes while she decides her next move, she tells graphicdesignr.
- Legal reporter and editor John Spano will be an associate at the law firm of Kiesel, Boucher & Larson in Beverly Hills, Calif., according to a post in LA Observed.
- Henry Weinstein joins the law faculty at the University of California-Irvine. An earlier version of this post had erroneously named Larry Stewart. Stewart is looking for freelance work, according to a July 17 “AirTalk” interview on KPCC.
Photo: mattlogelin/Flickr
