Laura - 2005-01-28 20:45:24
For the record, Ypsidixit absolutely will not reveal the names of any current or future sources of information regarding this story.* * * * * * * * * * * *
Ypsidixit received the following email from a different reputable source:
"There are those at the Courier who were very pleased to see your letter to Heritage newspapers, concerning the "story". I will not name names...but they hope you will keep up the good work in the future."* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-01-29 10:32:24
Ypsidixit notes that among the two jobs currently available at Heritage, one is for an ad rep for "Neighbothood Values, a direct mail product of Heritage Newspapers".
Translation: Heritage is in the junk mail business.
Why?
Ypsidixit receives a ton of junk mail. One has to ask [Ypsidixit is in the process of checking this]--not imply nor accuse, but merely ask--if Heritage subscriber information is being quietly used to profit from junk mailers who want access to Heritage's "Neighborhood Values" junk mail division.
If this is true, Ypsidixit notes that upon subscribing to the Courier, she was never asked if she wanted to opt out of having her personal information being sold to junk mailers. She certainly would have opted out.
Here's the ad:
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In all fairness, Ypsidixit notes to her surprise that "Detroit Newspapers" (the Free Press and the News) also runs a junk mail division, less euphemistically called "Target Direct."* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-01-29 12:33:03
Ypsidixit has learned that it allegedly was editor Renee Collins's decision to drop the Courier's long-standing "Religion" page.
Ypsidixit disapproves of this decision.
Ypsidixit is an atheist, and of course never agreed with any of the religious viewpoints expressed on this page. However, the page always contained essays by local ministers. In this way it served as a community voice. The loss of the Religion page is one more example of how Heritage is reducing the Courier to less of a valuable community paper.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-01-29 12:43:50
A reputable source has given Ypsidixit some financial information that makes Mr. Wilcox's claims about paying writers and photographers questionable.
*One well-known weekly columnist originally got $25 for the column. When this person's paycheck was delayed for seven weeks during the Heritage takeover, Heritage apologetically raised the payment to $35 per column, which is the current payment.
*One writer's recent front-page feature about a community event--a long article that took up much of the front page and ran over into a large portion of a subsequent page--earned this person $50.
*One employee in the downtown office is being paid $7.50 per hour. Another employee there is being paid less.
*One photographer was told "Your job is safe" but that "there is no more funding for your position." The fate of this person's job appears to currently be in limbo.
Ypsidixit's source for this information complained that Heritage is doing a poor job of communicating to Courier employees, saying "We're not being told anything."* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-01-29 12:48:26
All financial info above is alleged to be true.* * * * * * * * * * * * brett - 2005-01-29 13:11:13
i love that they call it 'Neigborhood values', almost ala 'family values'. I wonder if all the 'values' crap i heard during the election was really just shorthand for 'under bush we'll get great bargains on name brand items.'
As for the wage issue, it sucks, yes, but i think a lot of people make that or less (or, if unemployed, nothing), so i wouldn't exactly put them at the top of the list for injustices in our society or economic system. One thing that i would like to hear, though, is the wage scale split between the heritage press's jimmy olsens and perry whites (was that superman's editor's name? if not, then 'great caesar's ghost', i might be losing important trivia accrued during my adolescence!)* * * * * * * * * * * *
brett - 2005-01-29 13:15:54Praise Lois, i was right. AND, If you ever need a stock image to represent the heritage editor, go here .* * * * * * * * * * * * brett - 2005-01-29 13:22:40
I.E., this is the exact discussion which preceded their decision to run the orthodontist 'story':
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The point of my posts is that Heritage has slashed Courier features that offer a genuine community voice while simultaneously greatly increasing the amount of ads, in order to, as Mr. Wilcox said, pay writers and photographers. But the writers and photographers aren't being paid what I regard as a living wage.
It may be that a lot of people are making that or less, but there's a difference between an entry-level job and one involving the skills needed to write or photograph well.
And I'm not putting this situation at the top of the list of social injustices. I'm pointing out Heritage's poor management of a former community institution, a mismanagement that is affecting the job satisfaction and financial bottom line of local-resident employees. * * * * * * * * * * * * brett - 2005-01-29 14:20:39
i would also be curious to know whether these wages were already in place before heritage bought them out, which i think is pretty likely.
Your comment about entry level vs. skilled labor is a good one, but once again i think there are plenty of difficult jobs being done in other professions which are also underpaid. I've worked at plenty myself.* * * * * * * * * * * *
Laura - 2005-01-29 15:04:16This post is not a survey of jobs that are being underpaid. It is an examination of the post-takeover situation at the Courier. And if X is being underpaid in Belleville, it doesn't make it OK that Y is being underpaid in Dearborn.
Before the takeover, the Courier was a labor of love run on a shoestring. After the takeover, I am told that the staff had reason to believe or were explicitly told that wages would be adjusted upwards. That hasn't happened. Heritage is certainly in a position to do so, seeing as how they have drastically increased the number of ads in the paper. They haven't. They appear to be taking the position that if employees were OK with the subpar wages before, when the paper at least had the dignity of being independent, then they'll be OK with subpar wages now. I am told the atmosphere in the downtown office is one of bitterness.
I don't get the impression that the staff is money-hungry. I do get the impression that they feel they've been treated poorly indeed by an entity that has the power to give them even a nominal raise but which just doesn't care. This is wrong.* * * * * * * * * * * * Eric * - 2005-01-29 17:35:56
Are you blaming Dave Melchior for selling out?* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-01-30 02:36:45
One of your favorite rhetorical devices, I have noticed, Eric *, is to invent some preposterous claim and then accuse me as if I had said so. You will notice, if you've bothered to read what I've written, that I have not said so, and that the thrust of this discussion is an examination of Heritage's practices. If you want to participate in that discussion, fine. But don't accuse me of some wild claim that exists only in your imagination.
Got it?* * * * * * * * * * * * Scott - 2005-01-30 12:00:44
not to rain to much optimsim, but in comparison, the ability to get a newspaper without some from of propagandic military vein would be nice. Down here, eveything is 82nd Airborne this and that. This whole town and state has the biggets boner for the military and what it does. Except for Asheville, where all those "Pinko Hippies" live. Sounds about nice. This area is 10 years behind. I have little faith in the bible belt.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-01-30 13:33:25
Scott, if I remember right, you are in or near Fayetteville, NC, is that right? If I remember right, there's a huge army (?) base there, one of the largest in the country supposedly, and I've previously gotten the impression that its presence tends to shape local culture in that area into a strongly pro-military vein--is that somewhat accurate? Not too surprising I suppose, considering that all base employees and their families would be in the area.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-01-30 13:49:31
Oh, and, Eric, I think I was too brusque in my reply to you. I'm sorry about that. But I was just trying to report on this story in a responsible manner, without wild-eyed raving rants, so it was a tad exasperating to be accused of same when I had never said so. At any rate.* * * * * * * * * * * * Scott - 2005-01-30 20:37:10
Ft. Bragg, besides the Ft Sam in TX, it is the largest base we have.And considering Poep AFB is right next door, the entire Cumberland county is so far right and filter that through the religious right that preodminates the area,(here comes the ear Vomit), I regret I am overwraught with red state propaganda. (Although Blue in voting)Adding to all that, there is Camp Lejune(?