The Washington Post editors and reporters who got laid off this week are predicting the future of journalism, and even democracy itself, are in peril after they were shown the exit. But nobody should pity them and their profession.
The layoffs at the Post are reported to be one-third of the newsroom and about 800 people in all. That amounts to a small army of journalists who were let go, and who must now find another job, with bills to pay, groceries to buy, and spouses and children who are depending on them.
If you feel pity for them, that’s good because that shows you’re a decent human being. Just understand they did it to themselves but they will never admit why. If you voted for Donald Trump, they think you're a Nazi and would never shed a liberal tear over you.
If you knew my own story, one would think I would have more pity for them. I am in the same profession after all. It's the only job I’ve ever wanted to do since my first newspaper interview at age 16. I don’t want to do anything else and, 36 years later, probably couldn’t if I tried.
The second reason I should feel pity for those ex-Post employees is I’ve been there, done that. I was the victim of a newspaper layoff myself, more than 20 years ago, at the Memphis daily newspaper The Commercial Appeal. I still remember watching a shocked-looking ad salesman, on the elevator, being escorted out of the building. I still remember seeing “Human Resources” flash on the phone in my cubicle, and I knew it was my turn, too. It was a terrible experience, honestly, that I’ve never forgotten.
So how, in the name of all that is good, can I not pity those Washington Post reporters and editors?
The reason goes back to my 3 ½ years at The Commercial Appeal. Even though my writing job wasn’t in the newsroom, I got a firsthand look at the editors and reporters there, and it wasn’t good. They were off-the-charts arrogant and snooty. They were indeed well-educated and considered themselves brilliant.
Picture a self-absorbed university professor, in love with the sound of his voice, looking over his glasses at no-nothing freshmen on the first day of class. That is how The Commercial Appeal newsroom viewed its readers, especially all those dumb hick conservatives in the suburbs.
They believed it was their job – and their job only – to tell Memphis and the Mid-South how the world operates and how it should work better.
Unable to keep quiet, one day I told one of the top editors the Republican business owners who live in the suburbs, the ones who buy the ads that keep us employed, don’t see their own views reflected in the newspaper.
“Mr. Davis,” he told me, “we call it right down the middle around here.”
When that fellow and a hundred more like him were escorted out the door, by Robbie the security guy, they left there absolute certain their opinions and their worldview mirrored the Mid-South on everything from politics and taxes to culture and religion. That's because their idea of newsroom “diversity” was employing a white liberal, a black liberal, a Hispanic liberal, a female liberal, a gay liberal, a left-handed liberal…
Sadly, nothing much has changed. After those Washington Post reporters were shown the door this week, they held a rally on the sidewalk to declare how much they will be missed.
“Who makes the Post?! We do!” the former employees, who in fact don’t make the Post anymore, chanted like a bunch of spoiled teenagers.
According to news reports, the layoffs at The Washington Post cut 14 of 19 reporters assigned to one single beat. What was the beat? Was it crime? Breaking news? Capitol Hill? It was climate change. The newspaper had 19 reporters assigned to cover climate change. Now it will only have five of them, and the libs are melting down like the North Pole.
Nobody who is laid off from any job deserves to miss a meal, or struggle to pay the rent or mortgage, but liberal journalists aren't like you and me. They really believe they’re a different class of people who own a sacred profession. And they will never, ever change.
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