DCRTV

A source tells us: “Interactive reps will now sell the failing print products and are forced to join the Guild. Print reps receive a number of new online accounts. Clients and the interactive design team get the shaft. It’s taken the new Clear Channel/Tribune team less than two years to destroy the number one website in Maryland”

DCRTV

DCRTV tipped you over the weekend that there’ve been more cuts at the Baltimore Sun. And now we get confirmation that six employees were laid off – three in advertising sales, two ad designers, and one classified ad telephone rep. “The Guild was unable to get assurance from management that there would ne no more layoffs,” according to a Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild bulletin issued this morning. “At the same time, the Guild does not anticipate widespread staff reductions, if any.” Also, the bulletin urges “anyone in any department who would like to be considered for a layoff and severance package, please let a Guild leader know AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.” The caps were in the bulletin. “The company is closing out the books for the year, and anyone who volunteers and is accepted would have to be out the door and off the books by the end of this month.” The buyout deal is the same as before, as spelled out in the contract – one week of pay for every six months of employment. Interestingly, a Sun source tells us, management – for the first time – is allowing the Guild to announce the possibility of voluntary layoffs.

DCRTV

A DCRTV source tells us that there were more cuts at the Baltimore Sun on Friday. And, we’re told that some of the Tribune paper’s online ad sales reps won’t be getting paid in December. More soon…..

In Monday’s News Wave, we had a reader mention that at the rate the jury deliberations were going in the Sheila Dixon trial, that the jury would be ruining some Thanksgiving plans. We asked what might happen with that in our morning news roundup today and in our Tuesday News Wave.

Later in the day we were looking at reports from Baltimore Sun reporters tweeting about the trial and noticed that Annie Linskey (@annie_linskey) was wondering about the possibility of no verdict today. So, we asked her about what the judge might about sending jurors home for Thanksgiving.

Linskey’s reply:

… no idea what judge will do. Baltimore circuit court is open Wednesday.

A few minutes later, Linskey replied again:

… conventional wisdom is judge will want verdict before thanksgiving.

Thanks to Annie Linskey of the Sun for helping shed some light on this question for us.

I’ve posted a lengthy piece at OnQ Social Media discussing most of the issues going this week regarding Twitter and the trial of Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon. There seems to be some factionalism going on among some of the media people there who are using Twitter and ones who aren’t (mainly the Baltimore Sun.)

It will be interesting to see what repercussions this has for the rest of the current trial and for Dixon’s next trial on perjury charges. The impact of the Twitter usage in this trial could be far-reaching across the U.S. as it relates to restrictions on trial coverage and new technology.

The post I wrote at the link above is one I went out of my way to be fair on to all sides involved. If anyone involved has any further comments you can leave a comment below, on the linked post, or send an email to mail@insidecharmcity.com or jeff@onqsm.com and we will make sure your unfiltered position is heard.

Update: It does appear that there was a protocol banning the use of phones by the media prior to the trial. The original post I made has more.

Update 2: I also got a reply from Justin Fenton of the Sun about the post and ran his reply unedited on the link above.

Update 3 This issue has also been mentioned at The Volokh Conspiracy.

The Baltimore Sun has also made a Twitter list of people tweeting from the courtroom.