<i>Star-Ledger</i> Re-Assigns Reporters...To The Mailroom

Yowch! Over at Editor and Publisher, Joe Strupp reports on the latest developments at the financially troubled Star-Ledger of Newark, NJ, where two journalists that resisted the call to take a proposed buy-out have been dealt a humiliating blow:

When a newspaper cuts its staff, those who remain in the depleted newsroom become valuable. But as The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J. slowly says farewell to 151 newsroom folks who took buyouts last month, at least two longtime journalists have been reassigned to the mailroom.

Reporter Jason Jett and Assistant Deputy Photo Editor Mitchell Seidel have been filing, sorting, and delivering mail for more than a week, according to sources.

Jett and Seidel, who could not be reached for comment, apparently declined to take one of the buyouts offered this fall as part of a companywide move to cut costs.

Ah, well! They say that crisis breeds opportunity, no? Gentlemen, keep the mailroom job: it's time to start thinking about writing your book.

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Buyout-Depleted 'Star-Ledger' Reassigns Two Journos -- To Mailroom [Editor and Publisher]