Monday's firing of a gaggle of seasoned journalists left the KPIX newsroom in "near solemn silence." Emmy Award-winning talent and veteran reports--such as Manny Ramos, Bill Schechner, Tony Russomanno, and John Lobertini--were asked to pack up and leave due to "drastic budget cuts." In all, 14 people were laid off, more cuts are expected to come.
Eyewitness to the bloodbath is Brittney Gilbert over at CBS 5's Eye on Blogs:
It is undeniable that, despite current economic trends that do not bode well, the t.v. news and newspaper business is struggling. They are struggling to catch up to the power of the web which has, in many ways, robbed them of many of their most valuable assets. News gets made online and broken online before traditional media types can even react. Not their fault, exactly, the machine is just too huge and cumbersome. Mainstream media organizations simply aren't as nimble as independent online newsmakers.
(You hear that? We're "nimble!")
Generally, KGO and KPIX is where we turn for local news. These all-too-common round of layoffs, in a word, sucks. And, please, don't fire Wendy Tokuda, KPIX demigods. She survived KRON 4 and a stint dealing with infamous LA newsrooms, for Chirst's sake. (...three cheers and dammit, c'est la vie!)
Anyway, locals are none too happy. Of course. Just check out some of the anger from KPIX fans over at SFGate. We feel their pain. Chin up, KPIX.
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