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Newspaper Industry Woes Inspire Prayer Web Site

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By MICHELLE BEARDEN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 5, 2008

The news is bad all over.

And if you're in the newspaper industry, you're not just reporting about it. You're living it.

Though I risk coming off as self-serving today, I couldn't pass on this story.

A deputy sports editor at The Oklahoman has found an interesting way to combat the barrage of layoffs and early buyouts taking place at newspapers across the country.

In early May, he created a Web site called prayingforpapers.com. His blog keeps a running tally of the steady stream of cutbacks and belt-tightening measures, including those here at The Tampa Tribune and our competition across the Bay, and offers up prayers to give the newly unemployed some comfort.

"Last week alone, we lost about 1,000 people in our business. We keep getting hit and there's no end in sight," says Mike Koehler in a phone interview. "It felt like a bloodbath."

Yes, indeedy. On Tuesday, the Tribune newsroom staff learned our ranks are thinning by 50 people - through buyouts and layoffs. Our convergence partner, WFLA-TV, will lose 10 altogether.

There's a face to every loss, a personality gone, a peer no longer there. Every time someone leaves us, we lose a part of our family and institutional knowledge.

But we're not the only workers getting whacked. What about Realtors, mortgage bankers, car dealers, retail salespeople? How are journalists any different?

The answer is: We're not. But given the nature of what we do, it's easy to be cynical about what's happening. We're the same people who publish briefs in our A section on "5,000 people killed in India in earthquake." We have to dehumanize the news or it would drive us crazy.

Now we have to dehumanize ourselves. We can't show our feelings when stories come over the wire about this paper cutting its staff by 15 percent, or that one lopping 100 jobs. It's a defense mechanism that (maybe) protects us emotionally while (hopefully) keeping us objective.

An Industry Of Connected People

Koehler is a second-generation newspaper guy. His dad, Steve, spent 24 years at the Springfield, Mo., News Leader before leaving in May for a job at a local college. Without his dad's influence, Koehler doubts he ever would have gone into journalism.

He is in a better position than most of us. His family-owned newspaper doesn't have to deal with disgruntled stockholders, whose main concern is the bottom line. His paper, like so many others, is trying to find ways to give readers what they apparently want: immediate news, videos and interactive stories. That means less emphasis on the print end of things and more on the Internet. But so far, no layoffs.

Still, this is an industry where we are all somewhat connected. Colleagues come and go and stay in touch. So every time Koehler heard of yet another round of job chopping, he checked his mental Rolodex to recall whether he had any friends there. The news was relentless and he was having a hard time keeping up.

In early May, he created the site to give laid-off or scared journalists a meeting ground. After years of being programmed to keep our feelings out of the story of the day, Koehler wanted to give his peers and others dismayed by the industry's sad state of affairs a place to vent, seek support and give comfort.

It must be working. He's getting a lot of hits.

"If the site can offer one person some hope in this constant state of bleakness, then it's done some good," says Koehler, who tries to blog daily.

It's also a chance for him to witness to others. Raised a Lutheran, he wasn't particularly religious. He tried the Baptist church for a while and that didn't work for him. But a year ago January, he and his wife tried a nondenominational church. His spiritual life underwent a transformation.

"I don't know if it's because I have kids and you start thinking of things like this, but for whatever reason, it's been a great thing for us," he says. "It's helping me get through this and encourages me to reach out. Without my faith, I wouldn't be doing this."

Family Man Values Job Security

He knows he, too, could be a journalist statistic. At 35, the breadwinner of the family, that's a scary thought. He and his wife, who left her job teaching disabled children so she could take care of her own, have three children, ages 8, 3 and 1. Job security ranks high on his list.

"But there's not a lot of it in my industry anymore," he concedes.

So he keeps users of his site apprised of the latest news. And he asks for prayers. Others chime in, delivering unsettling announcements from newsrooms across the country. Not everyone appreciates Koehler's efforts, but he can deal with it.

"One reader told me that my fairy tale wasn't going to help him out," he says. "And if he wants to believe that, that's OK. We are getting a lot of responses from people who are thanking us, and those are the ones that make this worthwhile."

We're not such a godless business, despite what some say. People in this industry pay mortgages, raise kids and attend religious services like anyone else. And when that pink slip comes, they are as frightened as anyone else facing an uncertain future. Many of us came into this career because of a passion, not because we dreamed of big paychecks. For us, finding another job this interesting and this much fun may be impossible.

Koehler doesn't know the future of his career. But there's something within his power that he can do. And that's offer prayers to those in pain.

"This isn't happening in a vacuum," he says. "It's real and it's happening all over. We need to show how we care and we're there for support."

Michelle Bearden can be reached at mbearden@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7613.

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