Friday 6 March 2009

Van 24 bodies

Bill Inglee, managing editor of Vancouver's 24 hours brings TSF up to date on this week's Sun Media layoff casualties, including himself and five others in editorial. His e-mail reads:

"Hi, I was the ME at 24 hours Vancouver and I'm one of the people laid off.

"The newsroom cuts hit six people, three reporters and three deskers. One desker, Tim Campbell, had already given his notice and was off to Beijing. Thursday was his last day. Desker Robyn Stubbs was scheduled to go on maternity leave at the end of May and was let go Thursday.

"I was a day-oner and was cut Thursday.

"The lifestyle (Carly Krug) and entertainment reporters (Graeme McRanor), were both cut. They were day-oners. Sean Holman was also chopped. There may be some bumping between the lifestyle/news section, but it's still in play.

"The cuts also hit the advertising and administration departments, including at least one day-oner.

"Cut at the same time was publisher Amber Ogilvie, who was formerly publisher at a number of Sun Media papers in Ontario, including Stratford. She had 20-plus years with the company. She was chopped on Wednesday.

"What gave 24 hours its distinct edge was local entertainment and lifestyle coverage, plus the ability to do bigger multi-day features absent from our competition.

"This truly was The Little Paper That Could brought to the West Coast. We rocked the boat and made the two Canwest papers distinctly nervous. It was made up of a great editor and an outstanding team of journalists.

"I've been in the business 28 years and this was the best team I've worked with. You know how you say 'This is how I'd do it to get it right?' This was that place.

"We marked the event in old-time Sun Media style Thursday night with a blow-out in a bar on Main Street.

"Cheers

"Bill Inglee."

Thank you for your e-mail, Bill. All the best.

1 comment:

  1. Good luck guys/gals with your next step in life.
    As a fellow newspaper guy, I completely feel for you.
    It really sucks in this industry right now.

    ReplyDelete