Jackson Jambalaya

Well, they clearly haven't had copy editors in more than a year -- how many employees were left to buy out?

And, at what point does Gannett just say "screw it" and shut down the paper?

Are you implying Jerry Mitchell DOES try to get his facts straight and DOES NOT have an agenda? Really?

Prepositional phrases with compound, three-part objects can trip up the clearest writer sometimes?

Her departure is a loss for Jackson; she really was a good writer on a paper with a dwindling number who could even be described as adequate.

But Jimmie Gates will be there forever.

Sorry to see her go. She did good job tweeting from the capitol during session.

Any word on who accepted (or was forced to take) a buyout?

Will shed no tears over Pettus, but Rick Cleveland, seriously? Is Gannett actually a nefarious underworld Communist organization set out to destroy what's left of journalism?

Who knew they even had a copy desk?

How do you say "Heart of the C-L"

To coin an old southern chinese expression "Dang"!

I'm sure they could get Hart to leave if they offered him a signed photo of Steve Jobs, and iTunes gift card and an old Mac Quadra to serve as the altar for the Apple shrine he has set up in the corner of his spare bedroom.

If Rick and Bobby go, especially Rick, there's no reason for me to ever pick up that rag again. Billy Watkins would be missed as well. Pettus not so much.

Well, my wife's been wanting me to cancel CL for a long time in favor of a real newspaper even though it wouldn't be local. If this info is correct, that should be enough to make me finally cancel after 36 years. Maybe if I subscribe to at least the weekend editions of the Commercial Appeal and the Sun Herald we can get enough MS news for the week.

Sounds as if C-Liar is finally going down the tubes! Time for a "real" newspaper to take over!

That is a talented list. A death knell for the print media in Jackson.

Pettus is one of my favorite writers. I don't know why all the barbs here on him. He has a great talent for making me interested in something or someone I don't give a damn about.

The pressure from the Coffee News is getting the best of the "newspaper of record".
Go Coffee News!

Please capitalize South, Southern, Sothron and The South.

Pettus didn't hold a candle to Orley Hood.

I really don't understand their methodology. Why would they completely decimate their "talent" pool? The least they could do is throw a director-level sacrificial lamb out the window....I'm looking at you, Hampton.

I wish they would get rid of Rick Cleveland. He is a nasty individual and is one of the main reasons they are going down the drain. You can't be a horse's ass to your customers. He should learn that.

It's getting difficult to justify purchasing the C-L. If Pettus and Cleveland go, I'll not be able to.

Who cares? What I'm seeing here is like an old western with folks coming from miles around to watch a hangin' and Boot Hill burial. Move along peepul...nothing to see here.

It's simple. Gannett/The C-L is in a huge mess of financial trouble. It doesn't matter how talented the writer/editor/copy editor/etc. is, it matters that there's literally no way the paper can afford to keep them. Doesn't matter if they're freaking Hunter S. Thompson. The only solution is to fire the senior employees (read: ones who are paid the most) and hire younger employees (read: ones who can be hired at a much, much lower wage.) Talent is the last thing Gannett is worried about. EVERYONE is dispensable. Really screwed up, but it's reality. If anyone tells you print isn't dead, they're delusional. SImple as that.

I'm not sure Bill Zimmerman is still with the CL. I know at one time he had left, but might have returned. Anyway, all the folks on that list have great experience and are good journalists. The paper won't survive this wave of cuts, I don't think. No more connections to the community.

Wasn't she the sexy looking girl? If so, hate to see her go.

Rick Cleveland is a joke but I think the CL is too far gone to salvage. They will go down the tubes or radically restructure into a much smaller (if that's possible) organization. When I am in a city of similar size such as Shreveport or Mobile all I can think when is read their papers is how much better they are than the CL.

Rick Cleveland hacked off an earlier commenter, but he's a first-rate journalist. Bobby is in a more specialized role, but he is a significantly better writer. I read him just to be reading him. With them gone, there's nothing left but raw information and questionable reporting. Whether black or white, I don't think there are more than a handful of us who care to read Jerry Mitchell or Bill Minor, both of whom are stuck in time. Sic transit (a bit of) gloria.

No, the sexy one is the bald, peyote snortin', guru Indian-bongo drummer who writes the garden column. Ewing.

This is a big part of the problem, The Gannett World headquarters in VA. along with all those massive salary's that go with it. Pic

http://gannettsucks.blogspot.com/2010/08/this-is-what-america-gets-instead-of.html

Better yet go to Google or Bing maps look up Gannett Headquarters
Aarlington, VA and sit down to be amazed.

OOoooPs

McLean, Va for Gannett

Rick Cleveland is a great sports journalist but in the last decade has developed a bad case of Hamptontiasis which terribly soiled his special franchise.

Let's hope he follows Salter's syndication model so that all of Mississippi can continue to enjoy his sports coverage for years to come.

Good luck Elizabeth. I've enjoyed your column!

Appears to finally be a "Not if, but when" scenario.

Everyone has known the CL is just like the City of Jackson. The slow death of a city and it's "newspaper" has been obvious for years.

At least we're now close to the end. Stop the suffering. Let Jeff and Jill do their Sweet Tater' Parade, while hopefully some brave soul does the
Kevorkian dance around an ICU extension cord.

What is "Salter's syndication model"? I used to hear him on the radio but I thought he retired or died.

Hey 10:08, the city just landed the country's best grocery store chain and people are lined up to live downtown. Print media may be dying but Jackson is not. You are either uninformed or confused.

Horrible news. The media is already weak in Mississippi and this just makes it pathetic. The money distributors in the Capitol already pretty much had their way, but now we'll find out a twentieth of the bs instead of a tenth like now.

For every person "lined up" to live downtown there are ten others leaving the city.

I give the new McDowell / Terry Road "Fresh Market Food Depot" a year before they move out too.

Hmmmm....I wonder if Wyatt Emmerich would consider adding a sports section and starting a daily newspaper? He has done very well with community weeklies. Wyatt, start a daily!

Not sure a daily would fly ($$$) but publishing 2-3 times per week might.

all of us would be better off if jerry mitchell AND bill minor would just shut up and go away, far, far away...

Bobby Cleveland is the laziest person I have ever met. His articles are useless. Jerry Mitchell lives in one dimension and needs to MOVE ON.

They should all take the buyout because if they don't the decision will be made for them a few months down the road and they won't get two weeks per year of service but caped at oe year and insurance. Take the offer and run boys! Rick and Bobby will Have no trouble writing and finding work. Billy Watkins is the BEST writer at the paper but all will be missed and I will have no reason to even read the sports anymore. Good luck guys.

Billy, Gary and Rick will all be missed but they need to take the buyout just as Bobby does. Bobby is an example of what is happening in that paper, because the last three or four years, he has had very little time to devote to his outdoor beat. Lazy? His ability to do every phase of the operation has hurt his writing ability. As the staff continues to dwindle, Billy, Gary and Rick would face the same situation — editing and production. As for Bobby, if you see this, I hope you get out so we can have time to hunt and fish like we used to.

I predict what's left of the paper will still use articles written by Salter from his golden podium at MSU and of course the labor union columnist over at TSUN will feed the plebes his drivel. They can't fire Mitchell over in Vicksburg and will keep using his stuff if he wants to email it. The racist redhead will sell his dung to Gannett until the day he's screwed into the dirt and Gannett pays enough for sindication crap to spin most of it off onto the CL pages.

Apparently a business decision has been made that nobody is interested in local news or happenings or if they are, they can get it here, from localized talk radio or at the gym. Then there's the octogenarian table at McDonald's in Madison.

11:50 PM:

You're wrong about the 1 to 10 comparison ... well, maybe that's true for Lake Trace. Jackson's tax base will continue to erode over time, but I the decline will be slower than it was 15 years ago. People really are lining up to move into Fondren, but the price per square foot sellers are demanding keeps the houses on the market longer than a few weeks.

A new newspaper probably fail in Jackson. Gannett would start slinging resources at The Clarion-Ledger to crush it. They can quell an uprising better than the Syrians.

Look on the bright side: we still have The Jackson Free Press here to provide a voice to the voiceless.

7:11, other than resembling an artsy convenience store, can you offer any backup for your comment that people are lining up to move into Fondren? Or were you shitting me just because you can?

Per the USCensus with nearly three (2.85) people leaving Jackustan on average every single day of the year 11:50's estimate is likely to be greatly understated.

So long, David Hampton. Don't let the door hit you in the a$$ on the way out.

10:56 (aka Ben Allen or a BA wannabe)...I keep hearing how people are "lining up" to move downtown where there's no retail, no gas stations, no drug stores ('cept the independent distributors on the street corner), no full service grocery (butcher, bakery), but I have yet to see it. I travel downtown after hours every couple of months and you could take a nap on Capitol Street at 9pm on a week night.

You can keep saying that everyone is moving to downtown, but it's just talk. It doesn't make it true.
But, hey, there's gonna be a Whole Foods in Highland Village in two years, so you won't have to drive to Ridgeland to get your arugula and ugli fruit. woo hoo.

Anyone walked through Greenwood Cemetery lately. It ain't the dead folks there who is 'bout to jack yo ass!

Never has there been a better time for an independently owned or non-profit paper (i.e. Northeast MS Journal) to pop up in the Metro Area. Gannett is a joke and they are taking down the area paper. Rumor has it that they will be TRYING to charge for online content soon...Good Luck with THAT!

I tried to look up a Greenville obit the other day and couldn't since they charge to view content at the Delta Democrat Times. I had hoped Obama would grant a waiver for the obits.