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With a newsroom-wide email fired off this afternoon, Plain Dealer journalists were given a new assignment: Wait.

The inevitable announcement of layoffs was sent out to all newsroom employees today. They were told to wait by the phone tomorrow morning for news of whether or not they’ll be “separated from employment,” as the message goes. Pretty freakin’ classy.

Sources note that the attachment on management’s first email wouldn’t open on some computers, so they had to send a second one. Bear in mind, all of this is happening as the paper tries haphazardly to blaze its own trail into digital-first publishing.

Per the “Save the Plain Dealer” campaign, all employees will gather tomorrow in support of one another outside the newsroom. The exact time has not yet been announced. A news conference and rally will be held outside 1801 Superior Ave. at 6 p.m.

It’s also expected that At 7 p.m., the newsroom crowd will congregate at Market Garden Brewery. If you happen by, do send a round their way. Regardless of how tomorrow’s details play out, Cleveland will be losing much-needed talent and local wisdom in the morning.

Newsroom layoffs are among the final pieces of the Major Transition at the paper, which will essentially begin Aug. 5. That’s when home delivery will be slashed to just three days of “premium print experiences.” Thankfully, as we try to navigate all of this, PD editors will toss a *six-page* reader’s guide into this Sunday’s edition, explaining how things will work going forward.

This article appears in Jul 24-30, 2013.

Eric Sandy is an award-winning Cleveland-based journalist. For a while, he was the managing editor of Scene. He now contributes jam band features every now and then.

9 replies on “Plain Dealer Journalists Told To Wait By The Phone In The Morning For Layoff News”

  1. It is tough to feel sorry for staff members in departments that helped keep the organized-crime syndicate in county politics operating with unbridled influence and power, get beat on major sports stories by national media outlets and crank out silly columns — often putting on a stupid act that they are in the reader’s corner on issues. Though, it is too bad that so many incompetent and egotistical executives will keep their jobs — the destruction of the newspaper falls right onto the desks of this lazy pack of fools.

  2. …ongoing advancements in technology with its unfortunate yet inevitable casualties — I wish the best of luck to everyone who will be affected…

  3. Just to clarify, it’s not just reporters who are facing layoffs. It’s also editors, copy editors and photographers.

  4. ^ Good point, Molly. A few changes were made above to reflect that it’s the whole newsroom being affected here.

  6. Before I am unable to reach many of you, a final “thanks a lot” for publishing my relatives’ names in your concealed carry licenses expose. Keep your chins up!

    Sincerely,
    Me

  8. This is just heartbreaking. Journalists have worked their tails off with a reduced staff on a shoestring budget and this is the thanks they get. My sympathies go out to the entire staff.

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