If you noticed that people who work for the Des Moines Register showed up on time today -- or maybe even 5 minutes early -- there was a reason.
Today's the day more layoffs ordered by the parent Gannett Co. were disclosed. See the story at the right side of the page.
That probably means all the security guards were also in the building.
After all, there no doubt wrre reporters, editors, photographers and janitors -- of both the day and night variety -- to escort to the back door. Surely you remember what happened to fired cartoonist Brian Duffy during the most recent newsroom purge.
People whose bylines haven't been in the paper for a week, 10 days or more were in today's edition.
Some folks maybe came back from vacation to show up on the fourth floor at 8th & Locust.
Obviously, so the boss would notice.
I mean, some people I thought had already retired, or told to retire, had their names in the paper again.
The other half of Team Gannett in Iowa -- the Iowa City Press-Citizen -- announced four layoffs yesterday.
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By the way, even if someone survived today's round of layoffs, he or she won't be able to relax. There'll always be another one down the road. That's the Gannett Way.
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Kind of on the same subject, Romenesko reports that Slate V "has created a Sally Struthers-esque commercial for BuyOneAnyway, 'a foundation that encourages people like you to purchase newspapers daily even though no one wants to read them anymore.' The narrator tells us that 'for just pennies a day you can clothe, feed and shelter newspaper professionals' and that 'once payment is made we'll send you the name, bio and snail mail address of the newspaper professional your donations are supporting.'"
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Don't forget to vote for your favorite Hawkeye and Cyclone football player, even though I already wrote several days ago that Nile Kinnick and Troy Davis are the best. The reason you should vote is so people at the paper can think people are still reading it once in a while.
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But don't vote for Sarah Palin. For anything.
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Palin's name even came up at our sportswriters' lunch this week. A guy called her "an airhead." Imagine that.
