We just got big news from a little birdie…
25 People Have Been Laid Off at The Daily Progress.
Media General, the Daily Progress’ parent company decided to move printing operations to Richmond to save on printing costs. The employees who used to work for the printing press no longer have jobs, but they will get severance packages.
[via Daily Progress] [pic]
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Ummmm… Little birdie? It has been our lead story since about 2:30 this afternoon.
In all seriousness, please wish our friends the best during this tough time.
big birdie?
@1: Too bad nobody reads your paper or online site
Shen.. be nice! They have more readers than us, actually.
@3 a bit harsh for someone who was recently relieved of a job herself, no?
@4: Um, his “we had the story first” snipe is pretty annoying. I’m gonna tell him to go kill himself à la Slog next…
@5: I didn’t get a severance package.
I read both.
I don’t read the DP. I just ask the NBC guy who is always in my parking lot if there is anything important I should know about.
Too bad it wasn’t a union shop in a non- “right to work” state… well, for the workers anyway.
/went there. card carrying ITU/CWA since 1995. son of a teamster. sorry i cant stick around for the inevitable union bashing flame war.
9: Solidarity, b-yo. I’m with you, bracing for nonsense.
@9, 10: I’m definitely on the opposite side of that argument, but since it is after 5 on a Monday, I am out of here.
@6 Maybe not, but you kept going to your other job, didn’t you? And there is more than one restaurant in town, isn’t there?
/just thought you of all people might be more sympathetic to a mass layoff.
//only full-time employees got severance.
i guess that move from afternoon to morning delivery wasn’t such a good idea
shen, it doesn’t matter that you did not get a severance package. People lost their jobs through no fault of their own, like you, so a little sympathy should be in order. Do you think it’s going to be easy for these people, many of them who have probably worked there for years and years and years, to find a new job? Sorry, but I would bet it’s a lot easier for you to find a new job than most of the 25 people laid off here.
I despise the DP for its news coverage, crappy website, and right-leaning ways (they didn’t even report any of the protests during Bush’s visit on Friday), but I wouldn’t wish ill or be snarky about people who lost their jobs. Sheesh. And I’m not even a peace, love and rainbows-to-all hippie. It just seems mean to hit people when they’re already down.
(they didn’t even report any of the protests during Bush’s visit on Friday)
blatant untruth. Protest coverage was on the front page, mentioned in the main story and in on it’s own plus there were several color photos.
I wasn’t gonna touch this one… everyone is being so true to their nature, I don’t want to ruin it … but i had to correct that.
/no further comment.
Is anyone from DP looking for a job? Writers?
as far as I can tell, it’s the printers that were laid off, right? If not, that would be a lot of newspaper people/writers let go in this job market at once– that would be a tough break indeed, competition-wise.
MC, thanks for the correction. You don’t know me well enough to say “everyone is being true to their nature”, if that was directed at me. If I’m wrong, I don’t mind being corrected. Better to be informed. I do like how you make a good attempt at being Switzerland by calling my info an “untruth” rather than a “lie”. There is also something called a mistake. I’ve heard we all make them.
That being said, I was checking the site off and on all day on the 5th (not on the 4th) and only saw one mention. I’m not even in favor of the protests at that time and place (again, don’t judge please when you don’t know), but they were news. In any event, there were no stories on their site on the 5th about the protests, though they were mentioned in passing in one other story that I saw. Other news outlets covered the protests much more prominently since they were so interruptive (is that a word?).
@ my 17– oof, and I don’t say that to disparage those folks who do work on the presses, who are necessarily skilled & no doubt excellent workers.
No offense, but the daily progress has been a giant joke at least since I was a child. I remember going there as a kid in elementary school for a field trip back in the early 90s, and my parents joking about what a waste of space that place was even then. After moving away from charlottesville in 2001, I’ve attempted to read it online for years. Even after they upgraded from 4 stories a day a few months ago, it’s still horrible. I’m happy that I can at least read this blog, the hook and cville online, as I would have no other way of getting my charlottesville news. I feel bad for the writers, but hopefully they’ll be able to get jobs at a reputable paper elsewhere (or local online media perhaps?). BTW, anyone else know of other decent online outlets that cover Cville news?
@18: damn, you’re pulling me back in!
no personal slight intended. Indeed, I don’t know you or your online persona at all. everyone I do know seems remarkably in character on this thread.
to reiterate my correction: follow my link above and you’ll see there were protest stories online on both the fourth and fifth. I read them online and in the paper and they were prominently featured both places. every local story in the paper is also on the web as far as I can tell.
/out. fo realz.
Every town I’ve lived in is full of people who disparage the local newspaper. And critiquing the NYT was a minor industry even before the internet age or Fox News. From the left! Every newspaper has a mocking nickname, like the Regress. It’s the same everywhere. The Prog had some good writers in the distant past (book editor was well-known, etc.), and even in the last decade had some good reporters, such as Jessica Kitchin, whose stories on development issues were as good or better than the award-winning weeklies. And Bob Gibson was deservedly highly regarded statewide on Va. politics.
The Prog also had some ridic scandals, such as when Hawes Spencer caught the editor married to the spokesperson of the largest industry in town (UVa Hospital), after the baby-switch scandal. Which was in the Colombia Journalism Review. But the scoops of Spencer’s papers have to be balanced against their loose fact checking and slimy insinuations against innocent people. The Prog may be too respectable, but at least it is respectable.
The Progress isn’t that much more reputable then the Hook. When you view it by awards won the Hook is very well thought of in the state. This is a silly thing-who really cares where the paper is printed? I’ll bet that the Hook or CVILLE isn’t printed here either. I feel sorry for the printers and their families for losing their jobs but their day was coming anyway. If was always a matter of when not if the printing presses would stop.
@12: You got me wrong. I feel very badly for the people who lost their jobs. I was merely responding to DP Dude who was like, “I had the story first y’all, which makes me cooler.”
And I was like, “Hey dude, people like me don’t read the DP and get our news from Cvillain so STFU. And don’t brag about having a story first when it’s about you. Of course you would have the story first. But thanks for popping up on our blog with your douchey remark.”
@24
I hardly think it’s “douchey” for the “DP Dude” to point out that the supposed hot rumor trumpeted here has been widely publicized already. Wasn’t even done in a rude/flippant way. Your reaction, however, is slightly harsh.