Good day all. Things are growing bleak with most of the Legacy media. They’ve lost one of their major funding sources with the shutdown of USAID and the Washington ComPost and Los Angeles Times owners have grown tired of burning money and are instituting major editorial changes. Then there are the barking moonbats of MSNBC.
MSNBC is hurting. Viewership has hit rock bottom and now is tunneling even deeper. This has led to advertisers to demand lower rates or cancel their contracts. This has led MSNBC to cancel some programs and terminate some of their more lunatic hosts. (Joy Reid for one) However, like all socialist entities, they’ve run out of money and now are looking at more layoffs. Apparently the plan was leaked to the media. Here are the details from the New York Post:
Bungling MSNBC bigwigs accidentally printed out details about the left-leaning network’s impending jobs bloodbath — and the top-secret document was found by a stunned staffer who leaked the details to co-workers, The Post has learned.
The production assistant stumbled across the “kill list” at MSNBC’s 30 Rock headquarters in midtown Manhattan shortly before the cuts were announced on Monday, Feb 24, sources close to the situation said. The printed pages, which were viewed by The Post, laid out meetings to be held with workers and “talent” about their fate in ominously-dubbed “impact conversations,” the insiders said.
“On the Monday, management accidentally printed the list of people and teams getting fired or being made to reapply for their roles.” said one source close to the situation.
“Entire teams in primetime learned that they were getting fired from a printout that a PA found sitting on a printer.”
I have been involved in layoffs, both as a target and as someone in IT who was tasked to close down accounts and collect hardware. In the latter case, I would be brought in a few hours before the layoffs began and provided a list of people who were being terminated. It is NOT fun. I’ve also seen how a RIF, (Reduction In Force), can be badly screwed up. People on vacation returning to work with no idea they had lost their jobs, or, in one case, the order to shut down the accounts went out before the affected people had been notified. (Same company BTW)
The screwup is the latest episode in MSNBC’s botched layoffs plans after Trump-bashing anchor Joy Reid and her staff learned they were about to be fired from a New York Times report on Sunday, Feb. 23.
Joy Reid was and is nuts. I suspect that her constant playing of the race card ticked off people inside MSNBC and when someone heard that she was going to be shown the door, happily sent a “Tip” to the New York Slimes. This is why layoff information is always kept tightly controlled by Human Resources and upper management. Things can and do go horribly wrong.
The intended confidential memo reveals a callous play-by-play beginning Feb. 19 and leading up to the Feb. 24 massacre in which about 100 people were canned. It includes a legal review with human resources, a talking-points script on the cuts and a scheduled pow-wow between NBCUniversal chair Mark Lazarus and NBC News Group chairman Cesar Conde. MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler was also slated to discuss show cancellations, time changes and new job placements, according to the document.
As much as I hate to say it, these are things that have to be done, especially with a company/organization that is basically looking at complete failure and utter collapse. There are certain things that have to be taken care of beforehand, and it is imperative that the targets of the layoff as well as other, unaffected people simply can’t know.
The document revealed a packed day of back-to-back meetings with the above talent, in addition to others including on-air talking heads Alex Witt, Ana Cabrera, Jen Psaki and Richard Lui — who was referred to as “Tier 3 talent” despite having received Peabody and Emmy Awards during his time at CNN.
Tier 3 talent? I think they’re being very generous here. I wouldn’t list any of those “Talents” as being much higher than Tier 8.
By the end of the day, MSNBC had posted 100 new jobs, and according to the document, the network intends to make all its new hires by April 7 and get them to start by April 14. One network insider lashed out at the “absolute humiliation” of some staffers being asked to re-apply for their own positions.
One thing you can count on in those cases, the person being told to reapply is going to find the compensation package significantly below what they were making beforehand. In many cases, it will be so low that the people affected simply can’t afford to work at the job.
“NBC and MSNBC always say employees can reapply for jobs after they’re laid off,” the person said. “For [MSNBC] lifers, it’s difficult because there are generally fewer postings for senior jobs.”
And if they are offered a job, it will be a major back step for them. Part of the reason, probably a major part, for the RIF’s is the fact that Comcast/Universal has decided to ditch spin off MSNBC into it’s own corporate entity. That means that MSNBC will have to actually start making money. The first step in this is cutting costs.
When Joy Reid was booted, MSNBC saved a minimum of $3 million a year and probably a lot more. (There are all sorts of goodies in those compensation packages) Another major target, who is still on the air, sort of, is Rachael Madcow Maddow. She recently had her annual compensation cut by $5 million, and yet she’s still pulling down $25 million and barely shows up for work. I suspect she’s going to be forced to produce or she is going to be the next on the chopping block. She’s already lost some of her staffers.
Network star Rachel Maddow blasted her bosses on air for the changes – especially their decision to fire Reid – in what has been described by sources as a “polarizing” move.
“Management was pissed and talent was like, ‘relax Rachel’” said a source close to the situation.
While the dustup put the powerful anchor in the spotlight, others wondered if it also made her more vulnerable.
How can I put this? YES!
“Rachel made this big play to try and protect Joy, but then MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler fired her anyway,” the source told The Post.
I have a feeling that Madcow’s days at MSNBC are numbered. Of course, I think MSNBC’s days are probably numbered as well. As mentioned earlier, their ratings have collapsed. There are YouTubers who are pulling in more viewers then the entire MSNBC lineup and for significantly less cost.
Could this have been handled better? Of course it could have. Whoever printed that plan is a complete moron. If it was a staffer, I suspect they’re joining the others on the unemployment line. (It doesn’t matter if they were told to print it out, they left the printouts on the damn printer) If it was one of the senior managers, they need to rethink network security. In most cases, HR and Senior management have local printers that are completely isolated from the main network and for just this reason. There are things that can not be seen by unauthorized people. Do I expect changes to be made? Nope. I expect this to happen again and again until MSNBC collapses completely.
Thatisall
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