Comments on: Stayin’ alive with Platinum Equity

By: Dan Kennedy

Dan Kennedy — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:22:50 +0000

Attention, K-Mart shoppers.

By: Rick in Duxbury

Rick in Duxbury — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 03:12:28 +0000

I’m picturing a certain ink-stained wretch from Danvers in that suit on BTP. Sort of “Nathan Detroit meets Larry Flynt”. C’mon, somebody must have Photoshop!

By: Young T

Young T — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 01:49:36 +0000

I think before anyone gets excited about the prospect of the Globe being owned by Platinum Equity, they should look at how PE has treated a few of the software companies in its portfolio. A little cursory research should pick up a few firms whose employees might have some things to say about being part of the Platinum Equity family.

By: Jerry

Jerry — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:04:34 +0000

One very big worry should the Taylors come back is whether they can recognize how different the newspaper business has become since they last were in touch. It will be hard to shake old perceptions and attitudes. They’ve got to be able to turn at least a slight profit to make it all work.

By: JK

JK — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:42:44 +0000

Hi Dan,

I certainly never meant to imply that the wages paid to Globe workers are too lavish. Far from it, they are more than reasonable and I wish they were more the rule than the exception.

But it’s ironic that the more some people get paid, the less they have to do.

The Boston Globe and other papers can survive with fewer people making the same money but working harder, that’s my position.

And by working harder, I don’t even mean overly hard. Just a solid 40-hour week.

By: Dan Kennedy

Dan Kennedy — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:39:31 +0000

There must be plenty of well-qualified journalists working for far less money and exposure who’d be glad to step up.

And imagine what those Walmart savings would be like if we could just get rid of the minimum wage.

JK, you do make some excellent points, though I have to stand up for decent wages as being a good thing, both for the people who get them and for society in general.

Regardless of who the next owner of the Globe turns out to be, the staff will continue to shrink — probably by quite a lot. Like you, I hope the right people are kept.

By: JK

JK — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:24:23 +0000

Hi Dan,

Your 80-20 rule is far from “a given.” It holds true only when a company gets fat and overstaffed. Companies that run lean and trim dead wood are different. I know this first-hand.

I may not be the first person to express these views, but I definitely feel like I’m in the vast minority.

Also: Pull off a “management miracle?” Um, OK. How about if the Globe simply said all its reporters had to file daily items unless they are working on (a documented, bonafide) longer-term enterprise story.

Dan, I think you’re being too easy on the Globe and other “large organizations” existing since the beginning of time.

I read into your comments that basically, get over it JK, newspapers like all large companies are sleepy and shot through with waste. It’s just the way of the world.

Dan, newspapers’ judgment day has arrived. I think it’s time for the people who work at these big cushy dailies to wake up. There must be plenty of well-qualified journalists working for far less money and exposure who’d be glad to step up.

By: Dan Kennedy

Dan Kennedy — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:56:28 +0000

JK: It’s a given in any organization that 20 percent of the people will do 80 percent of the work. You are not the first person to suggest that there’s still waste to be cut at the Globe. I’m not going to express an opinion about that. But I would say that you can’t expect the next owner (or the current owner) to pull off a management miracle that has eluded large organizations since the beginning of time.

By: JK

JK — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:47:49 +0000

There’s so often the wrong spin on these stories. 750-odd people remaining at the San Diego paper? They’re doing paste-up? Talk about waste. I once worked at a seven-day daily with less than 10 editorial employees in total. Was the paper as rich in content and quality as the Globe? Hardly. But I cannot imagine how much better it could have been with 30 editorial workers – working hard – let alone hundreds and hundreds.

People disparage the Globe as the Velvet Coffin. Having no first-hand knowledge of this, I’d still have to agree based on outside evidence alone. Half the paper is wire, and practically half is done by correspondents. What exactly are all these full-timers doing?

Perfectly open to being proven wrong here, but nobody can seem to tell me this.

Please: No more spin about how staff cuts have “decimated” papers. How about if everyone puts in a full day’s work?

By: MarkB

MarkB — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:28:58 +0000

Oh Muffy… he’s not “one of us.”