This tweet from the Seattle Times’ Mike Rosenberg is going somewhat viral this morning after he lamented the loss of journalism jobs at the Cleveland Plain Dealer:
The Cleveland Plain Dealer has laid off one-third of its staff. Two decades ago, the newspaper had 340 journalists. Now it's down to 33.
Nationwide, more than 2,400 media jobs have been cut this year – about 26 gone per dayhttps://t.co/K2KlWnGTdZ
— Mike Rosenberg (@ByRosenberg) April 2, 2019
Alex Burns of the New York Times, a company that for the past 20 years has been helping to put local newspapers out of business because why buy the Cleveland Plain Dealer for national news when you can get it online for free at nytimes.com, called the layoffs a “human tragedy and a threat to democracy”:
This is a human tragedy and a threat to democracy https://t.co/53NRGvdvkP
— Alex Burns (@alexburnsNYT) April 2, 2019
Well, maybe the New York Times should stop selling digital subscriptions in Cleveland? Might that help?
Also, it’s always nice to see what kind of layoffs merit a “human tragedy” and which do not:
*200,000 oil workers laid off*
“Meh they were killing the planet anyway”
*14 journalists laid off*
“HERPADERP HUMAN TRAGEDY DEMOCRACY MURDERED!!” https://t.co/cWKotXph00
— Will (@Oil_Guns_Merica) April 2, 2019
Personally I don't celebrate anybody losing a job — "there but for the grace of God" and all — but if the hyperbole generated in this tweet could be somehow harnessed we could power a medium-sized city for a couple years. https://t.co/xDrc6x36SV
— Doug Powers (@ThePowersThatBe) April 2, 2019
But please, please do not tweet “learn to c*de” at any of these folks. We don’t want to see our readers suspended:
I wish Twitter would allow us to give these journalists some career advice
— Harry Ellis (@Jetspete) April 2, 2019
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