Will Report for Food: Tales of an unemployed journalist

I referenced this possibility in my last post and, unfortunately, my gut instincts were right: Yesterday, Creative Loafing Editor David Warner sent out a memo to staffers at the Tampa paper informing them that Eric Snider, the senior editor and longest serving member of Tampa’s editorial staff, was laid off.

Sad times.

Here’s the memo from Warner:

In the face of declining print revenues and an according shift of resources to web-first production, Creative Loafing is restructuring its editorial staff. Unfortunately, these adjustments have made it necessary to eliminate the position of senior editor held by CL veteran Eric Snider.
There is no question that CL will be a different place without Eric. He has made a major contribution to the company as a writer and editor, and his style, his street smarts, his charismatic presence and journalistic expertise have added immeasurably to CL in print, online, and in our day-to-day lives.
We will miss having Eric as part of the staff, both as a journalist and a friend. He will continue at CL full-time through the end of this week; after that, we hope to continue working with him on individual projects.
Sharry Smith, Publisher
David Warner, Editor

He ends his post on the CL Daily Loaf blog with this rumination:

Nothing much else to say except that the recession sucks, that this was an extremely painful decision, and that it brings to four the number of layoffs we have had to make this year from an already small edit staff. And yet, in spite of everything, I’m still optimistic about the future of this company.

I can’t say axing Snider was surprising in any way. For the months proceeding my own layoff, the management of Creative Loafing had signaled they were pursuing a new model similar to the Huffington Post, or — perhaps more likely — Examiner.com. A model that calls for a select few editorial staff members that curate content from “contributors” who write blog posts more or less for free. A model that pushes reporters and bloggers to write about subjects that will attain the most hits, not what’s the most important or even germane to a local alternative weekly magazine. A model that leaves little room for copy editors, investigative journalists or any type of editorial direction.  In the eyes of CEO Ben Eason, this is the heralded “digital transformation strategy,” a blueprint that removes the need for local journalism and journalists. It’s also important to note that Eason has first focused on Tampa  in his Web-first vision; similar “restructuring” is no doubt coming soon to the company’s other four papers. How anyone left can be “optimistic about the future of this company” is beyond me.

In any case, good luck to you, Eric. And welcome to the swelling ranks of the unemployed journalist. You have a lot of company here.

UPDATE: As the news of Snider’s departure spreads, other media outlets are reporting on the layoff. Check out the Tampa  Bay Business Journal story, St. Petersburg Times media critic Eric Deggan’s blog post and a post by former Tampa Tribune music critic Philip Booth.

Full Disclosure: I worked at Creative Loafing Tampa from 2006-2009.