Slog - Comments on The Seattle Times Buyout List, and a Prediction of An "Extreme May-kover" for the Newspaper

Comment by Fnarf

Fnarf — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:12:38 -0800

No more pet column? Maybe The Strangler should start running one.

Comment by COMTE

COMTE — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:32:02 -0800

"The way this process was set up, any job for which we accept an EOI simply vaporizes."

Can someone clarify this? Because it sounds like, not only will the employee not be replaced, but the news or editorial function they performed will vanish as well. Can that be right? Because if so, it looks like the Art & Entertainment section, represented here by the departures of Bargeen, Davila, and Scanlon, is going to take a pretty big hit - no more classical & contemporary music, or TV/Radio coverage?

That can't possible be correct, can it?

Comment by FYI

FYI — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:39:15 -0800

Comte,

Freelancers, of which will not be paid benefits and available at a much cheaper rate then full-time staffers, will provide the bulk of the coverage.

Comment by Will in Seattle

Will in Seattle — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:53:36 -0800

Next thing you know they'll kill the Obituaries and the Sports pages.

Comment by Jack

Jack — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 13:21:39 -0800

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

wow, changes, how very boring

Comment by Sumbitter

Sumbitter — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:04:34 -0800

The Seattle Times has a Pet Writer? Now that's dead wood.

Comment by Troy

Troy — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:48:55 -0800

Many articles are already syndicated from NY Times, especially over the last few months. nytimes.com has them online, often a couple days before ST.

Comment by Hey!

Hey! — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:51:49 -0800

Expect to see a lot more of this:

Jonathan Zwickel, Special to the Seattle Times.

Comment by Wu-huh?!

Wu-huh?! — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:14:10 -0800

A pet writer?! Just a thought: Shouldn't we focus our journalistic efforts on readers with, say, opposable thumbs?

Comment by PopTart

PopTart — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:24:15 -0800

@7 and syndicated from others as well. And that has finally driven me to give up my subscription to the Seattle Times. I'll miss the comics in a compact format, but otherwise the rest of the content I can now get online and often sooner than it appears in the paper on my doorstep.

Comment by Biff

Biff — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:27:12 -0800

The info on the titles you have isn't really current. The Times hasn't had a "pet writer" for more than 8 years. He's a copy editor who occasionally writes stories about pets.

Comment by Will in Seattle

Will in Seattle — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:31:41 -0800

I still miss the Classical Music Elite Breed Pet Writer they used to have way back when. Especially when he wrote the Pet Obituaries of Famous Local Composers - that was hard-hitting journalism at it's finest ...

Comment by ed

ed — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 16:18:27 -0800

This should make more room in the newspaper for original, Pulitzer-caliber colums like the glorious "Girl Around Town." My Sundays would not be complete without that advertorial.

Comment by Took it

Took it — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 21:04:17 -0800

Barf - I don't consider my career "largely ahead" of me. I consider myself smart for getting the hell out of that place while they still have a sheckel to throw in my direction. Some of the volunteers are in their 30s and 40s. He knows that.