The Sun sets (Baltimore: layoffs, bill, design)

[barante]

15 Cut At Baltimore Sun - 4/29 - Updated. DCRTV told you Thursday about another round of cuts at the Tribune-owned Baltimore Sun. A source told us: "Fifteen mid- and top-level editors just laid off at the Sun... The casualities include: Deputy Managing Editor Paul Moore, Editorial Page Editor Ann LoLordo, Op-Ed Editor Larry Williams, Med/Sci Editor Patricia Fanning, Sports editors Ray Frager and George VanDaniker, Copy Desk Chief John McIntyre, Systems Editor Steve Auerweck, three bureau chiefs (leaving none), Regional Editor Jay Apperson, and Photo Assigning Editor Chuck Weiss. All editors were told to leave the building immediately. A security guard was stationed on the skywalk between the building and the employee parking garage. Rumor has it the Guild employees will get layoff notices this week." Another source tells us on Friday: "I just read through your brief about the 15 layoffs at the Sun and noticed you have no names for the three bureau chiefs. Their names are Joe DeCarlo, Dan Clemens, and Bill Caulfield. Also receiving a layoff was Eileen Canzian, who was one of our Metro editors and one of the brightest journalists in the room. Their experience, expertise and institutional knowledge - not to mention a genuine love for the city of Baltimore and the surrounding area - will be sorely missed."

[helenejen]

Originally Posted by bawImer

Is this original information or posted from another website? Thought that wasn't allowed.

Here's the link: dcrtv.com - washington dc/baltimore area radio/tv/media. If you were so concerned you could have done a quick google search and put it up yourself.

[barante]

More on Baltimore Sun layoffs - Baltimore Brew

And here 's the most comprehensive account of the gutting of a once great newspaper:
http://www.poynter.org/forum/view_post.asp?id=13920 (broken link)

[Tallybalt]

I would never call the Sun a great newspaper. It was a good newspaper, and certainly above average compared to many other papers, but the designation of greatness belongs to a tiny handful of papers: the NYTimes, the Post, the WSJ are possibly the only three that fall into this category. They also may very well be the last three newspapers left in the US at the end of the day (along with the rubbish USA Today).

Who/what do you blame for the decline of the Sun? I attribute it to a variety of factors, from alienating prospective readers to the overall industry decline. The latter is probably the main reason, and someday in the not too distant future, the Baltimore Sun may go the way of the buggy whip. Singling out the Tribune is unfair, for most American newspapers are struggling.

Originally Posted by barante

More on Baltimore Sun layoffs - Baltimore Brew

And here 's the most comprehensive account of the gutting of a once great newspaper:
Poynter Online - Forums (http://www.poynter.org/forum/view_post.asp?id=13920 - broken link)

[barante]

By the measure of the times, The Sun's period of greatness lasted from the 1920s through World War II, when Washington had no first-rate newspaper -- The Post's glory days came later -- and The Sun landed on the desks of a series of presidents each morning. What consitutes greatness is a fair question. The paper's covedrage of local affairs lousy for the most part, but its attention to the country and the world made up the deficit.

[jonjj]

I agree barante. The Sun was well recognized many years as one of the few great papers in the US. It's a shame what has happened with the Sun and most newspapers today. Where do we get our local news? What a void and I have already missed the habit of spending time with the Sunday paper.

[barante]

"Ever printed?" Ever is a long long time. If you do a historical review you will realize that your statement is simplistic and untrue.

[Tallybalt]

The Sun was once a proudly pro-secessionist newspaper (as opposed to the Unionist Baltimore American) and defended the existence of slavery. Should we factor that into the paper's "greatness?"

You mentioned the Baltimore Sun's heyday between WWI and the 1950s. For most people, that's a past before "ever." In my lifetime the quality of the Sun and its content has been steadily declining, well before its acquisition by the Tribune.

It's time to let the newspapers die. The best will survive, and other forms of journalism will step into the void. Have no fear for the future.

Originally Posted by tireless

I guess since we haven't defined greatness, your statement is at least as simplistic and untrue as mine. My historical review concludes that the Sun has never been influential in world and national affairs.

[barante]

Before ever? Nice.
Is before yes, no?

[Tallybalt]

We're going to play the nasty word game?

You have the upper ground in that your acceptance of the meaning "ever" is the correct one.

In general jargon it's not unrealistic to assume that when casually used, "ever" is not necessarily a timeframe without ending.

Originally Posted by barante

Before ever? Nice.
Is before yes, no?