Wednesday, June 19, 2013

The WMD slamming down at the Plain Dealer

The anticipated Wholesale Moving Day (WMD) at the Plain Dealer has begun.

Scene Magazine is reporting today that layoffs will begin this evening.  Eventually it will slice a third of the staff that has  already shrunk from past cutbacks.

Here, in part, is s how Scene reported it:
 "For now, non-newsroom employees are affected (advertising, marketing, finance, IT, etc.).  They've been told to wait by the phone for a call from management.  The dice have been rolled..
  "Newsroom employees were told to dread a  'later date,'  though earlier reports have those layoffs coming sometime before Aug 5.  One third of the newsroom will be laid   off.
  "As the Save the Plain Dealer Campaign relays the news, this is being billed as "realignment of the workforce' and 'redesign of our operations'. Those losing their jobs tonight were preemptively wished 'all the best for their future'."
 Realignment?   Redesign? A telephone standby for your fate?

This is the sort of empty  jargon  that we used to call editorialese.  So allow me to pick up the theme by wondering how the folks losing their jobs can, with a straight face,  be wished the best for their future.

For further editorialese, it bears watching. 

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