Some of the reporters laid off last week were among the Star's most prolific writers. Sarah Trotto consistently was in the top 10 in bylines each year since she was hired in 2006, while Shelley Shelton pretty much made sure the Northwest section had bylined stories.
There's essentially no reporters left to cover the Star's weekly sections for the Northwest, Foothills and East Side, nor for the weekly Caliente and La Estrella sections. All of which, in fact, were huge cash cows because of the advertising.
The saddest part is all of the Star's true dead weight remains gainfully employed and horribly overpaid. Like the online editor, who doesn't know how the Internet operates and has admitted that, despite working in a Mac-filled newsroom, uses a desktop PC in his office because he's 'not too familiar with Macs.' But he's managed to convince the four people above him — four people who all, essentially, do the same job, that he knows what he's talking about when he uses random computer jargon in staff meetings.
Having been a member of that newsroom, I know this is more a matter of laziness and cheapness than anything else. With Andrea Kelly leaving to go to Arizona Public Radio, they've had to have their political reporter cover the state and the county, so national stuff gets ignored and handled by the AP. Of course, if this were a sports story, they'd have three reporters living outside Giffords' residence, complete with a Scene and Heard column regarding the best fashion of nearby dog walkers.
@IPH and @TucsonJames: From what I've heard, the Star doesn't have any written rules about using Twitter and Facebook. They want everyone to use it, but haven't said what they can and cannot do. I know of a couple people who have personal AND work accounts, but most combine the two.
Is everyone ignoring the fact that this Twitter account he was posting on was a personal account, and not one affiliated with the Star. And what happened to free speech? The reason the NLRB is looking at this is because the Star thinks it can prevent employees from griping about their jobs, which is illegal.
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