Tribulations

As reported in Friday's Death Star, some significant payroll cutbacks were enacted last Friday at Portland's second newspaper, the Portland Tribune. WWP has learned that this means that just about one-fourth of the "editorial and writing staff" are now gone, all given pink slips at last week's end. No word on whether other departments are affected, but some of the names to be eliminated are familiar. And likewise, no word yet though whether the lay-offs affect any of the "marquee" names on the Trib's diamond-plated masthead. Time will tell.

This is a sorry turn for the struggling but estimable Trib, and an even worse turn for Portland's media-starved and media-strangled populace. Rumors abound, and they come cheaply, about the Pamplin media group's fortunes. WWP won't repeat them here, for the stakes are too large.

But, imagine for a moment a city with just one relevant media outet. Yep: If you love what's coming at you from New Jersey, "You'll find it in the [expletive deleted]."

Comments

[The One True b!X]

Yeah I should have posted about this last week, when those of us on the Trib's "color commentary" panel were informed that the editor who had been in charge of that was now gone.

[brett]

I don't usually find the Oregonian relevant.