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.

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If you’re like me, you’re tired of being lied to.

That’s what got me started in media criticism.  I would read the Los Angeles Times every day and shout at the newspaper’s reporters and editors over my cornflakes.  “This isn’t true and you know it!” I’d yell.

Of course, nobody over there was listening.  But they listen to me now… sometimes.

Back in February 2003, I started writing my blog, primarily as an outlet for my frustration at the bias, omissions, and distortions I found in the L.A. Times on an almost daily basis.

Since then, I’ve managed to get the editors’ attention a few times.

During the Iraq war, I questioned an L.A. Times report that a U.S. airstrike in Ramadi had “pulverized” 15 homes and killed 30 civilians.  My military and other local sources denied the report.  Based on my post, the editors backed off their initial claims.

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