Journalists Shocked by Slate's Layoffs
Slate announced four big layoffs on Wednesday, the biggest of all being "Press Box" columnist Jack Shafer. Adweek broke the story of Shafer's sacking, and later confirmed two of the other layoffs: "Chatter Box" columnist Timothy Noah, and June Thomas, Slate's foreign editor. Slate's Dahlia Lithwick, in a tweet to her departing coworkers, confirmed the last layoff to be senior editor Juliet Lapidos. Shafer will "continue as a contributor for Slate," according to an email he wrote to Adweek. Shafer's last column, unless he gets a farewell post on Thursday, was posted on August 19, almost a week ago. Most of the attention following the layoffs is being directed towards Shafer's firing, and everyone is saying how dumb it is. Or, journalists are saying that anyway.
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The American Journalism Review posted a glowing profile of Shafer Wednesday afternoon, just hours before news of his layoff broke:
As a media critic for Slate for the past 15 years, Shafer has written pungently, sometimes brilliantly, about Murdoch. His colleagues in the media criticism business love Shafer's jujitsu conference upon Murdoch the title of genocidal tyrant, a self-reference Murdoch once made when complaining of how he was depicted by the press.
They were forced to update their post with the advisory, "Just after AJR posted this piece, Slate on Wednesday laid off Shafer and a number of other employees."
Reuters' Anthony De Rosa tweeted, "I hope we hire Jack Shafer, cause somebody sure as hell will." Colleague Felix Salmon retweeted his support with a "+1."
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Choire Sicha of The Awl said, "I'd get rid of all of you before Jack Shafer," while retweeting recently semi-retired Jim Romensko's Poynter post about the Slate layoffs.
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The Daily's Hunter Walker called it, "the end of journalismism as we know it!"
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The New York Observer's Foster Kamer said Shafer's layoff was, "the stupidest media move in recent memory."
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Chris Hayes, of MSNBC, threw some love to Timothy Noah, "Timothy Noah is at the top of my list of Slate must reads. He countered the "contrarian" cynicism that threatens to swallow Slate whole."
Wired's Spencer Ackerman asked for a ton of money to start a news organisation so he could hire Shafer, and Slate's Dave Weigel tried to snip the money away from him so he could rehire him.
Weigel seemed the most broken up over the news. He tweeted he was going to, "drink enough Bourbon," so Shafer would still work for Slate. He then moved to hallucinogens so he could go back to working with June Thomas and Timothy Noah.
“The industry we’re in changes very quickly,” Slate editor Dave Plotz told Adweek. Shafer's been with Slate for fifteen years, if he was ever going to get phased out by the medium, it would have happened by now. The rest of his quote reveals what is likely the real reason, emphasis ours:
“This was a decision that made sense both financially and editorially. It was a painful decision for us. But it was a decision that we think—coupled with some new editorial and technological investments that we’re going to make—will pay off in the long run.”
A publication with deep pockets will likely pick up the media critic. Rupert Murdoch, as explained in his American Journalism Review profile, has been a favorite target for Shafer, which is unfortunate. Murdoch's money pit, the iPad-only The Daily might have been a perfect fit.
Update: Shafer responded to an email asking for a comment. "After the incision heals and the stitches come out," he writes. "I'll have a better idea of how I feel and what I'm going to do next." On the outrage over Twitter? "The Twitter stream is like a drinking fountain filled with beer. I like it!"
