The Sky Is Falling

When the Chicago Tribune and LA Times parent company is filing for bankruptcy, it makes journalists everywhere feel nauseous.

Does anyone else find it strange that they filed in a court in Delaware? Delaware? This seems like the first time I've ever heard of the state being referenced in a national news story.

The whole thing also shocks me just because of the scale of the debts the company had--$900 million in interest payments in the next year? A $69.55 million junior debt payment due today that they couldn't pay? And I stress out about a couple of thousand on my credit card from moving back and forth across the country.

This weekend, when I was down with the grandparents and other assorted extended family members, we talked a bit about the state of journalism. I said it was a precarious industry, and I knew things were bad, but I didn't know they were this bad. This is taken from the story:

A note on an internal Tribune Company Web site said, “All ongoing severance payments, deferred compensation and other payments to former employees have been discontinued and will be the subject of later proceedings before the court.” That made it apparent that employees who recently were laid off or took buyouts would join the long list of unsecured creditors.

That means reporters, mid-level editors, designers, copy editors, sales reps, whatever, people who got laid off and screwed over before are now not even going to get the money to get them through as they look for a new job any time soon. That's tremendously shitty, affecting their lives and their families, especially in the winter when expenses are higher---and no, I'm not talking about paying for Christmas gifts. I'm talking about heating homes, stuff like that.

(As an aside with a pet peeve of mine--WHY does the AP Stylebook dictate that newspapers should still make Web site into two words, one of which is capitalized? It's retarded looking and makes it look like it's some new-fangled technology that no one's ever heard of. People are smarter and more tech-savvy than that, AP. Get with it. Update this shit for 2009, I beg of you.)

Supposedly there's going to be reorganizing in the papers, which just means more people will get laid off. They won't even be getting a severance package at the moment, either.

It just makes me sad, angry and afraid. I'm someone with a decent, secure job that I enjoy, so I can't even imagine what those in the company are feeling. If you know a journalist, show them some love. We would be incredibly grateful.