‘Massive’ Christmas layoffs at the Journal Star today (updated 2x)
A reliable source told me moments ago via email that there were “massive” layoffs at the Peoria Journal Star this morning, much like last year.
Victims include two newsroom managers and several other staffers plant-wide.
My condolences to the newly unemployed.
UPDATE: They sure don’t waste any time. Bill Liesse — the sports editor if rumored to be among the laid off — has been removed from the PJStar Weblogs. It’s the stupidest damn thing in the world. I presume they aren’t removing his articles and columns from the Website. Are his blog entries somehow without value now?
UPDATE 2: The news about Bill Liesse isn’t going over well at SportsJournalists.net.
Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates 
This is a f*&%ing shame. Why must this happen right before Christmas? Last year, during their Christmas layoffs, they canned a woman with cancer!
Gatehouse sucks. Plain and simple.
I’ve heard the state editor and the sports editor were among the victims. I’ve also heard that Gatehouse political reporter Adriana Colindres (one of the best in the state) lost her job this week.
Can anyone confirm these? Who else was involved?
Terry, You may know this already because of the time difference since your post, but Bill, Lisa Coon and Adriana were the 3 managers laid off today. Three weeks before Christmas. Nice. This had nothing to do with competence and everything to do with no-nothing number crunchers.
I don’t know who the others were (non-newsroom.)
It’s true. I feel badly for my co-workers.
Isn’t it kind of ridiculous they write in as detailed as possible of every other employer’s layoffs and yet not a word about their own??
Ok I retract previous statement, they did post it.
[...] stuck with it even after the buyout and as the content and paper itself has dwindled, but this is pushing me to the edge. My renewal is coming up [...]
Rich Miller’s Capitol Fax today confirms that Statehouse reporter Adriana Colindres was among the casualties. Yet more “hyperlocalism” from Gatehouse?
In the same post Miller notes that former radio shock jock and Clear Channel head Randy Michaels is taking over Mother Tribune (!), and that our own Sen. Dick Durbin wants federal shield laws to more narrowly define who a “journalist” is — in a way that EXCLUDES bloggers, amateurs, and anyone who doesn’t get paid on a regular basis for what they do.
My readers hip my tip jar fairly frequently these days. Do I qualify under Durbin’s definition?
The shield law amendment presented by Sen. Durbin and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) limits protection from being compelled to testify in court to professional journalists working for “a newspaper, book, magazine, or other periodical.” No mention of students, bloggers, or even freelancers/stringers.
Their reasoning falls under the all encompassing umbrella of “national security.”
See Daily Kos, Niemann Journalism Lab, and Columbia Journalism Review for more details.
I believe it was 2-3 yrs ago that the other x-mas layoffs happened :/ (including the lady mentioned in the first post)
GHSE stock is up to 20¢ a share (+9.89%).
Someone approves for the moment.
Adrianna Colindres is a class act. Her stories on the state house have been a refreshing dose of reality without bias. Of all the reporters to get rid of, that was a very poor choice. She will find work elsewhere with her outstanding portfilio and it is central IL’s loss. Best of luck Adrianna!
I’m saddened to hear of these cuts. Bill is a great guy and the staff at the PJ Star works tremendously hard. My thoughts and prayers with those involved.
Thanks, Charlie.
bill
A layoff at Christmas time is pretty damned cruel, as nearly all employers simply aren’t hiring at the end of the year. (Trust me, I’ve been there.) It’s really hard to celebrate when your future is so uncertain. I have real sympathy for these and all of the many unemployed.
By the way, while I echo the comments about Adriana’s classy career of doing the Daily Illini proud, let’s not let Lisa Coon’s greatness go unrecognized today.
We never claimed to have Ben Bradlee up there. But what you got in the state editor was an authentic, hands-dirty, conscientious woman who was always motivated by substance over cheese.
Lisa does things correctly. In sports parlance, she’s a glue guy.
I know sites like this like to impose a lot of ulterior motives on the people at the big paper on the hill. I’ve always been amused and annoyed by that. Question our collective competence if you wish, but at least 90 percent of the agendas are imagined.
I say that because of what a distinct non-agenda existed with Lisa and her sensational night co-editor, Brad Erickson. I can’t even say I read that much state news, comparatively.
But I know the best two state editors of my 15 years were just working together.
Now that’s torn apart, too.
And that, my friends, is why all the sports forums are abuzz about the departure of Bill. Thanks, Bill, you’re a class act.
He’s always been the grittiest of sports guys — telling it like it is, and how it should be. I came up through the Journal Star as a Bradley brat pulling part-time hours in that department prior to Bill’s arrival, and have always understood how that world worked.
I’m a Peoria native and this was my hometown paper. I will miss all the great people left remaining (and miss still all those who have left over the last couple years through the downturn of this industry.)
Adriana was a tremendous asset to this paper and the company in general since she provided well-researched and solidly written stories for a number of sister papers. I know her absence will be felt greatly.
And I second what Bill wrote — all of these alleged agendas or conspiracies so many story commenters claim “we” sit around and come up with — it’s just a bunch of nonsense.
Cheers!
OK, did Peoria Pundit just get a smack-down from Bill and Lisa?
All people have personal biases, no crime there. The only question is whether they bleed through into the work product. The JSEB has a distinctly liberal bent, but I have always found the victims of these layoffs to be top-shelf. My sincerest sympathies and prayers that you land on your feet at a more deserving company.
As to the comment about the stock price, Gatehouse is a penny stock trading vehicle, nothing more. It is a dead stock trading. With $12m in cash, over $1b in debt, and a book value of $-13/share, anyone who thinks the PJS is going to get better and not worse is a fool.
[...] Billy Dennis provides us with the names of three of the employees who got pink slips: Sports editor Bill Liesse, Statehouse bureau reporter Adriana Colindres, and State editor Lisa Coon. [...]
Check this out:
Help us cover the Legislature. 15-20 hours per week. $15-$20 per hour. Computer skills required. Knowledge of legislative process helpful.
Send resume to:
The State Journal Register
1 Copley Plaza
P.O. Box 219, “Box #5343”
Springfield, IL 62701
Source: http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/job-JMK0GEJFSNS?source=SRP
Computer skills? Knowledge of legislative process HELPFUL? What about journalism skills? Experience? Ability to write?
Seriously, they let Adriana go, and they expect to replace her like this? It should be criminal.
P.S. I realize that this might not be directly related to Adriana’s old job, but come on. You lose one amazing full-time reporter, and then this ad appears? Surely this new position is intended to pick up some of the slack left in the wake of her departure.
I was once fired, and replaced by an Intern. OF COURSE they are replacing her with a part-timer. All they want are words to fill the space on the page they can’t fill with ads.