UPDATE: Tulsa World announces staff reduction
I was laid off this morning from The Tulsa World, along with about 20 what I now know is 25 others from the newsroom. I was only there for four months, so I don’t have the exact tally of what positions were all eliminated and I’m not sure if or how many were laid off from other parts of the company. I do know that the graphics department has been eliminated, I was the only designer, there were two photographers (one of whom was the main videographer), the advisor of the high school section, at least two copy editors, a sports designer/editor, administrative assistants were eliminated and several reporters. Many of us had only been there a short time (from four months to a year or two), but there were also several people who had been at that paper for a number of years. It was hard and sad to see any of them get let go.
It seemed most of us were surprised and didn’t necessarily see this coming, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles, right? I am a bit scared for what I will do next, but maybe this is my chance to expand my horizons. All I know is I can’t let this beat me down — I love what I do and I want to continue to design, even if it’s through another medium.
Oh, and if you know of any job opportunities — let me know. And let my friends know who are in the same situation — not just here, but around the country.
4 Comments
7 January, 2009 at 2:04 pm
horseshit. I know for a fact that there are still graphic designers at the TW. Maybe not print designers, but there are definitely web designers there. And considering that any good designer can move between print and web easily, it would come as no surprise if they canned print designers and just gave that work to the web designers.
7 January, 2009 at 3:11 pm
It is a shame and I wish you the best finding meaningful employment. Hang in there, something always comes along.
The biggest shame is the culprits of the T-World’s failed business model still run the place. It is they who should have been summarily dismissed.
The few I have conversed with at the T-World, the ‘common’ employee if you will, whether the sales staff, customer service/billing and the like were always very professional and pleasant.
Too bad I can’t say the same for the editors who caused this mess.
7 January, 2009 at 9:09 pm
Thanks for the kind words, Tex.
But I just want to make it clear, and I should have done this in my post, that our editors weren’t involved in any way with these most recent layoffs. In fact, all of our supervisors were as unaware of what was happening as we were. I don’t want to see anyone get laid off, but unfortunately I think the way these layoffs were handled meant some really great talent was lost from the company without a chance for a fight.
8 January, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Marin,
Maybe not directly involved in the layoffs, but it is the editors of the T-World, who thru their bias, have caused a large part of their customer base (like me) to tell them their services are no longer required.
As a kid I delivered the T-World, had taken the morning paper for 25 years, and still miss reading the paper in the morning. But with the advent of broadband, I will no longer support a paper that shoots me the bird virtually every morning in opinion . The real problems of the T-World were set in motion long before the economy tanked and the editors refuse to acknowledge that fact.
However, the failure of the circulation is not of your doing, as the quality of the layout and local content I found quite satisfactory. I do appreciate you providing the forum and the opportunity to tell the everyday workers at the T-World thank you and job well done.