As the heyday of the daily newspaper passes into history, expect to see more sites like this one, which is devoted to laid-off staffers from the once-great Baltimore Sun telling their personal stories. As a veteran of a now-defunct daily newspaper myself — the afternoon San Francisco Examiner during the Reg Murphy era (Murphy went on to become the editor of the Sun) — I’m especially sympathetic to such tales, but the time has come for all of us who are living through the end of the Newspaper Era to face up to the fact that’s it’s gone and it’s not coming back.
In the spring of 2009, The Baltimore Sun laid off about 60 people, including about a third of the newsroom staff.
This Web site records the bittersweet memories of many of those people. Some recall the pain of being fired; others the challenges, joys and spirit of newspaper work.
Baltimore Sun building, c. 1939
The Web site grows from a fellowship project conceived and funded by the Writers Guild of America, East Foundation, which has a mission of perpetuating the art and craft of storytelling. Like other WGAE Foundation projects, this one gave the laid-off Sun employees an opportunity to process a difficult experience through creative work.
Participating fellows include reporters, editors, critics, copy editors, photographers, designers, advertising salespeople and market researchers. In addition to the essays, poems, photos and videos, they also designed the web site and edited the submissions.
Please give it a respectful read, then let us have your thoughts.