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Saturday, March 19, 2005

Where I respond vigorously at the TR Bitchfest site or: "You f___in' cowardly anonymous bitch..."

March 19th

Oh look. I see that someone has responded to my last message at the Tribune Review bitchfest site. I've been urging them to think about unionization.

Date Posted: 10:28:58 03/19/05 Sat
Author: Salesman
Subject: Re: another tribbie quits?
In reply to: Philip Shropshire 's message, "Re: another tribbie quits?" on 07:47:13 03/17/05 Thu

Shropshire, you fool.

The reason the PG is facing those conditions is because of the union. I'd rather have a job with lower wages than to sink the whole ship in some idiotic revolution.

Why are you so concerned about starting a union at the Trib? Do you get a cut of the money or a commission for spreading this economic disaster plan?

Unions pull companies into bankruptcy and gov't unions fleece the the taxpayers.

Take your sales pitch elsewhere.

You know, it's one thing to write propaganda, it's another thing entirely to believe in it. Unions are meant to protect workers against the excesses of management, period. You can be as enlightened as the machinists or as evil as the teamsters, your call. Anyway, I decided to vigorously respond to his incendiary retort. Or: Never pick a fight with a guy who buys his ink by the pixel...


Date Posted: 12:51:46 03/19/05 Sat
Author: Philip Shropshire
Subject: Re: another tribbie quits?

Ahhhh the Internets. Where anonymous cowards get to call you names...

For the record, I get no cut. But if someone wants me to contact the guild or the Communications Workers of America for them, you know where to email me. Let's talk...I'm not going to lose my job at the Trib if I help organize you guys...

I just read your complaints and frustrations and I offer you a solution. You can quit, complain on a message board, or organize. Those are your options as far as I can see. Please choose the option that makes the most sense.

As far as your low wages go, that's what the people at the Pittsburgh Courier told me, while they were threatening me personally I might add. Years later, after Rod Doss fucked them over anyway, they could see the wisdom of what I was trying to do. Furthermore, its been my experience that management and not labor causes a company's decline. Or at least that's what I see at Worldcom and Enron. Of course, it might be that journalism is a field where you can make money, just not as much money as stock holders demand. Again, we need some new models...

You might want to take a look at this Laurie Garrett piece..

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/03/14/151255

My fave quote:

"In a blistering memo to her colleagues at the paper, she ripped Newsday's parent company - the Tribune Company - for putting profit over quality journalism. In the memo announcing that she is going to work full time at the Council on Foreign Relations, she wrote that "All across America news organizations have been devoured by massive corporations - and allegiance to stockholders, the drive for higher share prices, and push for larger dividend returns trumps everything that the grunts in the newsrooms consider their missions." She went on to write, "This is terrible for democracy. I have been in 47 states of the USA since 9/11, and I can attest to the horrible impact the deterioration of journalism has had on the national psyche. I have found America a place of great and confused fearfulness."

She continues: "It would be easy to descend into despair, not only about the state of journalism, but the future of American democracy. But giving up is not an option. There is too much at stake."


Philip Shropshire


PS: I'll be downtown Tuesday. We can meet and you can call me a fool to my face you fuckin' cowardly anonymous bitch...Be warned: I'll probably call you some more names as well. Don't worry, there's a chance that I'm a diminutive lil' fella....

Publisher's Precautionary Note: I don't drink. I don't smoke and I don't do drugs. I don't own a firearm. I don't think I'll be drunk in any bathrooms where I will then commit "suicide". Just a note....

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