The Pulp has been a grim and bloody business of late. Reporting on the slaughter of the press in South Florida is like being near the front in war, hearing the bombs, knowing they aren't far away and could strike at any time. And the number of casualties just keep growing and growing.
The Orlando Sentinel is going through its own set of fairly secret layoffs right now. Among those who have taken buyouts, according to several sources, are Maya Bell, who was the newspaper's walking South Florida bureau, and John Kennedy, the veteran Tallahassee reporter. These are two fine journalists (and Bell, the wife of Sun-Sentinel scribe Robert Nolin, is a friend). A very good new blog, The Amazing Shrinking Orlando Sentinel, posted several other names in a list that is similar to the one for the Palm Beach Post begun yesterday. Here are the names they came up with from the Orlando Sentinel, in addition to Bell and Kennedy:
Christopher Boyd Dee Gugel Mary Ann Horne Scott Joseph Tammy Lytle Babita Persaud Mark Pinsky Tim Povtak Lyndsay Sutton Harry Wessel Claudia Zequeria
The Sun-Sentinel news corps is still waiting to hear on the 55 or so buyouts/layoffs it is facing right now. That's bad enough, but the truth is that everyone knows this is only one wave in a continuing tide of destruction, a full turn in the death spiral. Several reporters at both the Sun-Sentinel and Miami Herald have told me that they aren't so much afraid right now, but dread the next round of cuts that they are certain are coming. And they're pretty sure the buyout money -- which is cushioning the blow right now -- will be all dried up by then. Sources say a new ax is about to fall at the Herald very soon. And this talk comes just a couple weeks after the recent carnage sent 42 in the newsroom out the door.
Good morning, and good luck.
