The Measure of a Company

As I watched a few of my colleagues break down and cry today in the newsroom, I couldn't help but think: How did we come to this?

And I thought: Here I am, at a once-great Maryland company, and we're down-sizing. Scores of my colleagues -- lovers of truth, the printed word, and fairness -- will soon walk out onto North Calvert Street, and never return to journalism again.

This is not right-sizing. Nothing about this is right.

These people at The Sun who have been here until now... they love what they do. They do it extremely well. They probably should've left Tribune a looooong time ago. But they stuck around, hoping and trusting and believing that our well-paid executive leadership would get us out of this jam. They stuck around because they still got a kick out of reporting in Baltimore.

They stuck around because being a reporter truly is the life of kings. (Thanks, Mencken)

But when it was time for them to go, our publisher, Timothy E. Ryan, gave them 12 days to decide on their future. Twelve days to pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and -- for many who are in the middle of their careers -- to try to find another way to put food on the table for their families and pay their mortgages in one of the toughest job markets in years.

What happened today... the loss is incalculable. Sure, Tribune will get its numbers. They always do.

But you can't put a price on what was lost today.

Thanks, Sun.