The Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal — circulation 61,906 — said goodbye to its copy desk on Friday.
Oh, the desk isn’t gone yet. Not quite. A few of them are staying on to oversee the transition of copy desk functions from Winston-Salem to the consolidated production centers in Richmond and Tampa.
Still, someone hired bagpipers to march through the newsroom Friday in honor of the desk. And then someone else cut a nice video tribute to them.
Roll the video, please…
Make no mistake, folks, this is not a good thing. I’m not crazy about consolidating graphics and design desks, but it can be done. I’ve seen it done and done well. Some of the consulting work I do these days involves this.
But consolidating copy desks is not a good thing at all. Copy editors are best kept on-site.
And that’s for the record.
Best wishes to the 19 folks in Winston-Salem who are losing their jobs.
And thanks to Sally White — with whom I worked at the Rock Hill, S.C., Herald, many decades go — for the tip.
Read more here about this story by Tommy Tomlinson of the Charlotte Observer. Also, see a brief comment here by John McIntyre of the Baltimore Sun.
Sad to see this, and even sadder that it seems to be happening more and more. Best of luck to all of them.
Considering what Media General did to its three Rockingham County newspapers — The Daily News (where I once worked), Reidsville Review and Madison Messenger — I am not surprised by this. Quality journalism — and the Journal clearly is the best Triad newspaper and one of the best in North Carolina — simply isn’t valued by newspapers corporations.
Thank you for posting this. It is sad & short-sighted. I think Karen Parker said it best: Any Newspaper’s success is its credibility, not its bottom line.” I don’t think the right people heard her, or understood what she meant.
I loved this video. Just the latest in a sad shift away from journalistic excellence when papers need excellence the most.
Hi Charles. I posted this lovely tribute too, on FB. I wonder: Who made it? Did I miss a credit in the video itself? If it was a Journal staffer, that person surely risked angering the powers that be for exposing what was being lost in that newsroom. To whoever it was: Bravo!
This is why I am NOT renewing my subscription when it comes due. Every decent editor and a few indecent ones are gone. Each section is thinner than it used to be, and the height and width of the paper have shrunk. They tried to charge us… for the TV schedule they no longer print themselves. We even send our money to Richmond. Only this time I’m not gonna.
Good-bye W-S Journal. I’ll miss the ads on Sundays. Pretty soon that’s all you will be.