JS Being gutted: Walker, Hunt, Wolfley likely gone

[EastSideBucksFan]

The beginning of the end for the JS.

Media will have a much different look in Milwaukee in short time.


http://urbanmilwaukee.com/2014/10/17/ba ... l-layoffs/

It has become a sad and depressing task to tally the ever-mounting body count at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. More layoffs were inevitable, I wrote in July, as a result of the buyout of Journal Communications by the E.W. Scripps company.

The ugly task of realizing “efficiencies” often falls to the current editor as he or she awaits the arrival of the new management. Which in this case means Journal Sentinel editor Marty Kaiser has had to let staff know — for the umpteenth time over the last eight years or so — that more staff have to choose a buyout, or the editors will pick the people to go.

I’m told that the editors wanted 15 volunteers. I’m also told the likely list of departures includes Duane Dudek, Don Walker, Georgia Pabst, Alan King, Mabel Wong, Jan Uebelherr, Gary Porter, Bob Wolfley, Greg Pearson, Tom Tolan, Michael Hunt and Mike Juley.

The biggest names here are TV and movie writer and columnist Duane Dudek, sports columnist Bob Wolfley, and former longtime sports columnist Michael Hunt, who more recently has mostly been a sports reporter. Sports is so important to the newspaper’s readership that cuts have come more lightly there, so the layoff of these two suggests how drastic things are getting.

Walker has been doing a fine job, among other things, of covering the city, partly I suspect, in reaction to Urban Milwaukee’s city coverage. Pabst has long been the paper’s go-to person for covering social service groups and the Hispanic community, which again mostly involves coverage of the city. Together those two, along with Tolan, take with them much of the institutional memory of this community.

[Ill-yasova]

I will miss Don Walker......that's about it.

[MickeyDavis]

Wow, their circulation, like every paper, has dropped a lot in recent years but seems to have stabilized. And their website is one of the most visited. But I knew when the merger was announced that there would be layoffs. There always is, in every business.

[trwi7]

I will miss Don Walker......that's about it.

Wolfley has some pretty good stuff too.

[MickeyDavis]

It won't be long until all of the reporting is outsourced and the Bucks beat guy will be Sandeep

[EastSideBucksFan]

It won't be long until all of the reporting is outsourced and the Bucks beat guy will be Sandeep

All the more reason for Save Our Bucks to continue to be a presence.

[Treebeard]

It won't be long until all of the reporting is outsourced and the Bucks beat guy will be Sandeep

All the more reason for Save Our Bucks to continue to be a presence.

Yes indeed,

Also, the need for other well-thought out articles by Brew Hoop and other sites, and some of the multiple view point natterings on this site ,

This is part of the general sea-change of news coverage from print media to the online world.

[trwi7]

Also, the need for other well-thought out articles by Brew Hoop

Maybe if you kneel before WEFFPIM you'll get your wish.

[paulpressey25]

Don Walker's position has been funded by Marquette Law School the past two-months. Not sure how long that continues.

[Treebeard]

Also, the need for other well-thought out articles by Brew Hoop

Maybe if you kneel before WEFFPIM you'll get your wish.

[paulpressey25]

Here are numbers you need to know.

In the 1998-2000 period, print newspapers collected approx $60 billion a year in advertising revenue.

Today, those same print newspapers collect approx. $20 billion a year in advertising revenue, of which a $3 billion component was online website ads.

So think about that. Newspapers had $60B in ad revenue and that was cut down to $20B (and is still a falling knife).

That means a lot of layoffs that have happened and more to come. The bigger new issue is the fact online advertising isn't coming close to funding the level of media coverage that country has been used to having.

[Max Green]

Hate to see people lose their jobs, feel sorry them actually but Hunt was useless. Good Riddance to him.

[DanoMac]

DAMN! Red Wedding at the Sentinel

[WEFFPIM]

I feel Walker will get picked up Urban Milwaukee or Milwaukee Business Journal pretty quick. He's good press.

[Nebula1]

Eh, I like print and still purchase books and newspapers. Tough losses but these guys (not JS specifically) have been behind the curve in adapting their business models.

Here's to a paper renaissance...

[Treebeard]

Eh, I like print and still purchase books and newspapers. Tough losses but these guys (not JS specifically) have been behind the curve in adapting their business models.

Here's to a paper renaissance...

I like the hard copy books and papers, but I am as old as dirt, and I grew up with that form of media .

As time goes on, I use proportionally more electronic media, and less hard copy. Outside of school, my kids primarily use electronic media, even for pleasure reading - e-books, e-zines, etc. I think hard copy books have more future than some of the current event hard copy; but there may come a big shake out there too.

[EastSideBucksFan]

Hate to see people lose their jobs, feel sorry them actually but Hunt was useless. Good Riddance to him.

I feel the exact opposite.

He was one of the few at JS that actually took the Bucks to task and understood how poor Herbs business practices were.

One of the few Bucks articles he's written in the last few years.

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/bucks/bu ... 26651.html

You understand what Herb Kohl is saying. The Milwaukee Bucks owner doesn't want a teardown. He says blowing up the roster isn't an option.

I'm not so sure the Bucks have any other option.

Kohl didn't mention the arena drive in his roster-specific comments to our Charles F. Gardner last week when he said he wanted to move forward with mostly the current players and new coach Larry Drew. But the elephant in the room is always going to be the new arena.

Implied was the notion that if the Bucks start over and lose 55 games in the process, an empty Bradley Center wouldn't do much to shepherd the project.

But I'm thinking fans who understand the NBA as it applies to small markets would understand and abide if only the Bucks would come out and say something like this:

"Look, we know the product hasn't been very good or interesting for a long time. We've treaded water long enough in the NBA's no-man's land of mediocrity to realize it's either getting us a so-so draft pick or one-and-done in the playoffs. We're going young and hungry and we promise to play as hard as any team in the league. Please bear with us while we go through this painful but necessary process to make you proud of this team again."

I'm pretty sure real fans would buy into that, especially in a city that values hard work and hustle much more than overpriced so-called stars, not to mention a boring team.

They would understand that is how San Antonio became a model franchise beginning in the mid-'90s. And how Indiana recently became relevant again. And how Memphis and Oklahoma City got good.

It is the small-market way. Start over and hope to hit the jackpot in the draft, which, by the way, is going to be killer next season.

In the Bucks' case, starting over would mean saying goodbye to Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis. But so what? It's not like they're winning with them now.

Anyway, it's out of their hands with Ellis, who has a player option. If the two-year extension worth a total of $36 million (including the $11 million he is owed this season) the Bucks offered is not enough, he's free to try to find $12 million a year elsewhere.

The Bucks showed good faith with the offer, and now they are free to move on as well.

As for Jennings, if I were GM John Hammond, I'd encourage the point guard to accept an offer from the outside. And then they'd be rid of him. He's got talent, but he has not proven he can carry a team with poor shooting and the tendency to dribble out the shot clock.

You know what the Bucks fear with Jennings, that if they let him go, he might flourish elsewhere as Tobias Harris did after the J.J. Redick trade. But this is no time to waste time worrying about what-ifs. It's time to have a real plan for the here and now and stick to it.

And part of the plan would be to showcase the emerging talent already here. There is a lot to like about Larry Sanders and John Henson. Luc Mbah a Moute, Ersan Ilyasova and Ekpe Udoh are foundation pieces, or at least value pieces to move, because the foundation is not being razed with the house.

The Bucks have cap money to spend, so go out and get a veteran for a year or so as a stopgap. Draft two guards. And wait for the bountiful 2014 draft, where the next Chris Paul or Tony Parker might be waiting.

Sounds like a plan.

[Max Green]

Hunt just hopped on the rebuild bandwagon last offseason. He wasn't always writing articles like that.

[Kerb Hohl]

His article about the excitement of Mo and Redd chucking after one All Star break was glorious. They won like 3-4 games in a row and he wrote an article about great things to come I recall.

[EastSideBucksFan]

Hunt just hopped on the rebuild bandwagon last offseason. He wasn't always writing articles like that.

I'll have to search his archives, but I disagree with you.