Jackson Jambalaya

That's fucked up

I don't have a subscription to the CL, but I did go to their website from time to time. The ONLY thing I would go for was Ramsey. Now I have no reason to go there!

is there a list of the laid off employees?

Morose to read Donna Ladd's glee about the problems at the Clarion-Ledger when 80+% of the product at the JFP is produced by unpaid volunteers.

Given the editorial issues at the paper (misspellings, typos, grammar, punctuation....other that the horrible manner in which they treated Mr. Ramsey - I hope they picked and chose who they laid off because most of the paper leaves a lot to be desired. I only subscribe on Sundays and it's for coupons only. Otherwise I visit Marshall's blog daily. Laying off because of lack of income...consider how many people are unsubscribing because of the quality. Therein lies the issue and the managerial staff at CL need to wake up!

I just posted the previous comment....see my misspellings. And NO, I do not work at CL...LOL. It must be rubbing off on me !!

Marshall's a columnist? It must have started since we dropped our subscription. He is a brilliant cartoonist.

Anyone else notice the irony that these big boosters of Obamacare cut the benefits for a cancer survivor who has logged hundreds of hours as a motivational speaker for cancer patients? BASTARDS!

While I have sympathy for the folks who no longer have jobs - I have none for the C-L. For years their primary "news" has been regurgitated 1960's and 70's headlines. Their bias has been apparent to anybody with a brain. Too bad there is not such a thing as real objective reporting today - either on a local or national level. Soon newspapers will become dinosaurs...sad when a once proud profession no longer exists.

This is SO SAD! I became a fan of Marshall Ramsey last year while helping my son with his homework. The teacher assigned a standing report to be written every month on the theme of a Marshall Ramsey cartoon. He learned a great deal about political cartoons and current events in general. Marshall, if you read this, thanks. You deserve better.

The C-L should be ASHAMED.

Marshall not only is a cancer (melanoma) survivor, but JUST ran his first marathon and in doing so raised almost $13,000 for melanoma research. Tie that in with the loss of Nick Bell to skin cancer, and that's IRONY at it's finest-not to mention one hell of a human-interest story that someone should be writing.

Marshall, Gary Pettus, Orley Hood and Sherry Lucas are/were the best the C-L had to offer. Gannett is cutting off it's collective nose to spite it's face. If Gannett's goal is to run the C-L in the ground, they are doing an outstanding job. Heckuva job.

What's really sad is he stuck by those SOB's and push away other offers in the recent past. Good Luck Marshall from a former screwed
C-L employee.

Really, at this point the CL hasn't got anything left to recommend it.

Little wonder old man Hederman hired a hit man to kill his boy when he sold the paper to Gannett.

Who else was on the cut list? WLBT said something about a sports writer...which one?

Former paid subscriber. If they layoff David Hampton I'll immediately re-subscribe and pay for a whole year in advance.

The last straw for me was the inital Irby puff piece. Truly pathetic a newspaper would actually print such a biased and inaccurate fairy tale.

And to think they didn't even bother to search their own data section before printing such crap... A fine way to show your BIASED true colors! Like I said before, pathetic journalism.

Quote: "Marshall, Gary Pettus, Orley Hood and Sherry Lucas are/were the best the C-L had to offer."

If that's the best, they do deserve to go under.

Quote: "If they layoff David Hampton I'll immediately re-subscribe and pay for a whole year in advance."

Amen. Although he seems to be a nice guy, he has no clue, just lots of opinion.

Also, I can't get them to deliver papers half the time, and when they fail, they won't do something they call "re-delivery." Now I ask you, how is it a RE-delivery when it wasn't delivered the first time?

Finally, the common talk about bias is absolutely true and easily provable. That's a big reason why they're in trouble. It's not known as the Clarion-Liar for nothing.

Marshall is one of the main reasons that I subscribe. I have noticed that when I missed getting a paper and I contacted them, they said I would get credit, instead of getting credit, they renew my subscription a month earlier. I have never gotten credit just a new billing.

Isn't it ironical how employees get laid off but never management!

They should get rid of some of the VIP magazine staff instead of Marshall....that sucks.

I'll bet Johnny-One-Note Jerry Mitchell still has a job there and will until the paper goes totally under.

If any of the former C-L staffers are looking for seed capital to challenge LaddCo in the alt space get the information to Kingfish so he can post.

I'll invest.

Next thing you know they'll demote Rick Cleveland to paper boy.
I wish someone with the money had the guts to start a real newspaper in Jackson.

Problem with the printed paper...that business model doesn't work anymore. Kingfish is doing the real news work.

As you find out what and who got the ax, it will not be the heads that put this paper in the dumper. They are the protected class within Gannett

WLBT says 15 people lost their jobs. Hate to hear that, don't wish that on anyone.

It always amazes me. If you sell a product, wouldn't the best business model be to try and sell it to ALL people? CL has lost a great deal because it caters to one political party, and not just in the editorial section. If you cut off half of your potential buyers, well, that's just plain stupid. And the folks who keep getting laid off pay the price.

I no longer subscribe to the clarion liar, nor do I read it! Ramsey will be better off long term, finding a better place. The liar will go under…..

Problem with the printed paper...that business model doesn't work anymore.

When the editorial side of the paper is not reflective of the community then the challenges to the business side of the model are greatly exacerbated.

The C-L, and the JFP in their micro niche, behave as if they have no competition. It is beyond reason and logic how they've concluded that (more) shrill and harpy will save their days.

I am going to quit hitting the CL online. I don't subscribe to the paper, and damned if I am going into a database of viewers of the online version.

Kingfish, keep the news coming!

It is a Minority run business and they have no leadership just like the City of Jackson....They don't know how to effectivly run a business kinda like our president not knowing how to run a country. That is not meant to be hateful but is meant to state the facts which are true.

I think they should can both Clevelands, and Orley should have been let go a long time ago!

Wasn't Orley let go last year?

Of all the big cheeses they did get rid of the smallest one (not referring to his height) the managing editor Don Hudson.

As far as others going away its just a matter of time. The publisher spent big bucks having all those distro center built around town, one is closed and two more are rumored to be closing, plus they still own the lease on the Rankin Ledger building and have what 2 people working out of the Madison Hearld office on Hwy 51

Great way to run a railroad.

Hudson was a Gannett loyalist. Wonder what he's thinking today?

Why doesnt the CL approach Barbara Blackmon about buying part of the newspaper? Worked for JFP, plus would stop these layoffs...

Who was the sports reporter that was let go? KV hasn't updated his blog at all today and I'm starting to get worried...

You know....giving up the Clarion-Ledger is like giving up rutabagas.

I understand they used the same line this time as last time. "We (Gannett)are eleminating positions not people".

Whatever helps you sleep at night, right.

Wait till USATODAY takes over all pages except for a couple of local news items. Then who will they need?

RE: credits-re delivery

It cost to much to re-deliver the non delivered paper from the first time, so no more.

Credits and customer service in general:

All customer service now come from a central center located in Greenville, SC at the Greenville News building. They handle all Gannett Southern papers with underpaid,untrained and understaffed folks.

Try calling the C-L, all automated and good luck if you don't have the name you are calling.

Her is a partial list:
Joe White in the Editorial dept
Mike Christensen, long time sports writer and inside person. Mike had been there at least 28 years. Chris Todd, Photo Editor - 29 years.
Marshall cut to 20 hours per week
Don Hudson, ME was also let go along with other ME across the south.

As someone said on the Gannett blog.. two years ago Ronnie Agnew and Larry Whitikar, publisher cut Orley Hood, their most popular columnist and Ronnie Agnew could not believe the backlash they got from that. Now, he and Larry go and do it again to Marshall who is very active in the commmunity and in many instances, the face of the CL. They are woefully out of touch with the community and their readers. The people they have let go are some of the smartest people who ever worked there and what's left are the people who can't write a sentence without a typo.

3:52, thank you for the list.

As an aside, it is painfully obvious by the columns Hampton and Agnew write that they are out of touch with the community. Otherwise, they would know there is a direct correlation between their drivel and the declining subscription numbers.

If you want to know how low the
Clarion Ledger has really sunk, read the following letter I sent to Ronnie Agnew when I recevied my bill for the fourtn quarter.

Mr Agnew:

Do you want to know why the once great newspaper, The Clarion Ledger, is losing subscribers left and right? Just take a look at the bill I paid for the next 3 months' delivery:

09/01/10-11/30/10 Delivery 54.00
09/05/10 Thanksgiving Edition 1.75
09/05/10 Credit Regular Edition .43
Subscription Amount 55.32

If I am reading this bill correctly, I am paying the Sunday newstand price (1.75)for the delivery of the Thanksgiving Day paper, and receiving credit for the subscription price (.43) of the September 05 paper. If I thought this Thursday edition would have enough editorial content to warrant the additional charge, perhaps I wouldn't mind, but I think I can rest assured that I am paying for the delivery of after Thanksgiving sale papers for sales which I have no intention of attending and for which the given merchants have probably already paid through the nose (In either case, a terrible waste of trees). This is a new low for this newspaper. If I didn't need the newspaper to use for the convenience of my dog, I would immediately cancel my subscription, and I have been a subscriber for almost 45 years.

Sincerely,

His reply was to forward my email to the accounting department. There was nothing wrong with my account and I never heard from them.

I think most are missing the point here. While material publications have their place, the internet is too much for media organizations that were used to influence in the public discourse and profits from interests without competition.

Welcome to Cyberspace.

Make sure you realize information is not a commodity, it is a necessity. Freedom of information is as important as freedom of speech.

Facts, opinions, commentary, and most importantly interaction (with the media that was once fed to you on a paper medium) all come together here on the internets. The days of marching down to the paper with your editorial are over. Blog it. Share it. Allow comment on it. Release the strangle-hold on the collective conscious that we call "newspapers".

Those used to privileged communication are now exposed, and they do not like it. In fact, they are trying at every instance to squash it. In the case of the CL, they chose to do nothing to enrich the dialogue with their subscribers, and unfortunately that strategy has resulted in the laying off of personnel who wanted to do right, but in the end were stifled for one reason or another.

And hey Marshall, I know you are going to be just fine. No one believes a person could ever fight the good fight fought and ever believe a good person can lose.

h/t Mom, you still fight and its been 12 years

Rumor has it that the call center mentioned before now only operates during business hours. It formally operated extened hours weekdays and weekends.

What happened to that awful Medical Editor?... Shanderrria Posey, I think is her name. Now that is a waste of $ having a non-medical person write the Medical column. It was terrible.

I'm still laughing at someone's post from a few weeks ago :

" If Jerry Mitchell was not Gay and Donner K was single........."

Anyway.

Back on this topic - Just to hear someone say the name Eric Stringfellow prompts
my involuntary nervous system to make me roll around on the floor and belly laugh.

( I have the exact same reaction when I hear the names : Kenny Stokes & Chokwe Lumumba )

They should get rid of the Moms Like Me section: and this is coming from a mom. Ever since they added the national feed, it's pretty much useless.

One editorial page writer, an editorial page filled with free"Talk back" crap, five reporters to cover local news, a few sports guys, everything else is USA Today with a few local pages. That is where its going.

I also understsnd KF that Gannett is now going around the country selling that program (USATODAY) to other newspsper companies, to help them cut cost.

"everything else is USA Today [and AP] with a few local pages"

Considering how little local content remains isn't it obvious that the paper only still operates as a jobs program. Especially for a few select high dollar Execs.

I think Jerry Mitchell is a waste of space as a writer, but I'd like to correct 9:26 and point out Mitchell is married.

Heard corporate thought he wasn't producing enough traffic on the CL website, UM, he produced more traffic than anyone else at the CL.

I've owned and published a few newspapers and was a 'working' journalist at the same time. Can someone tell me what real work function is performed by the publisher of a Gannett paper and or how many local news stories are written by editors.

Called this morning to cancel C-L, ask why I said; Larry Whitticker is stupid. To which the agent said and I quote " thats not on my list of reasons" to cancel.

I ask her how could they improve the paper if the real reasons were not explained. She had no answer and said she would find some way to get my thoughts across.

So stupid is as stupid does at the C-L