Miami Herald employees, worried about retaining their jobs due to severe cutbacks in the newspaper industry, have now looked to a Santeria 'rooster' (photo) for help. The rooster is actually a life sized replica with a note attached that says:
Brought in by a Santeria priest (the real deal from Hialeah) to help save our jobs. Leave an offering.
The rooster and the offerings were placed on a fifth floor counter last Thursday facing an elevator bank in the Herald building in Miami. Among the offerings placed on the counter by the end of that work day were coins, cigars, and a Virgin de Guadalupe candle. Perhaps the Herald employees need to make even more offerings since the McClatchy Company which owns the Miami Herald just announced big layoffs today:
The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI) announced today that it plans to reduce its workforce by about 10% as the company accelerates efforts to manage through today's difficult advertising market and position itself for future success in an increasingly competitive environment.
"We have been transitioning steadily and successfully from a traditional newspaper company to an integrated multimedia company for some time," said McClatchy CEO Gary Pruitt. "The effects of the current national economic downturn -- particularly in real estate, auto and employment advertising -- make it essential that we move faster now to realign our workforce and make our operations more efficient. I'm sorry this requires the painful announcement we are making today, but we're taking this action to help ensure a healthy future for our company."
The total number of affected McClatchy employees is estimated at 1400. The Herald employees might think about using a real rooster, not a replica. A real rooster might be messier but possibly more effective in conjuring up Santeria power for newspaper workers protection.
UPDATE: You can now see a video of the Santeria rooster in the Herald newsroom.
UPDATE #2: Apparently the gods of Santeria are not pleased when a replica rooster is substituted for the real deal. As a result, the Miami Herald took a hit of 17% reductions as opposed to the average of 10% announced by McClatchy earlier today. This amounts to laying off about 250 full time Herald employees out of a total of 1440.
H/T: Herald Watch.
—P.J. Gladnick is a freelance writer and creator of the DUmmie FUnnies blog.
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Comments Policy
hahaha
June 16, 2008 - 09:38 ET by taterWhat a load of chicken @#$@.
www.theholyrosary.org
"There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we can not resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary." -Sister Lucia
sorry for the double post.
June 16, 2008 - 10:02 ET by SickofLibssorry for the double post. Safari 3.1.1 truly sucks.
Foghorn J. Leghorn would be appalled
June 16, 2008 - 10:00 ET by SickofLibsA styrofoam rooster and COINS?
You reap what you sow.
ps: what dope left the Chris Matthews bobblehead doll as tribute? That alone could have angered the spirits and led to the layoff.
Personal Note
June 16, 2008 - 10:04 ET by P.J. GladnickPersonal note here: A little over a couple of years ago, I sent the then Miami Herald executive editor, Tom Fiedler, an e-mail telling him about an idea I had about how the Herald could bring many more readers to their online site. Yeah, the Herald has become quite liberal in recent years but I have fond memories of it from my childhood so I felt a sort of brand loyality to the extent that I wanted to help out.
Among the things involved was the use of their vast photo archive. Well, much to my great suprise, Fiedler e-mailed me right back and expressed enthusiasm for the idea. Unfortunately he then tossed the idea to the Herald web editor where it died. When I called the web editor he acted like I was proposing that they undertake another Manhattan Project. The term he kept repeating over and over was "not enough resources" to undertake the project.
Resources? A college intern with good computer skills could have set most of it up in a matter of days yet this web editor kept yammering (in subsequent phone calls) about not having enough "resources" to devote to it. So there the project died via bureaucratic inertia. I'm not saying that this project would have been a tremendous success but it was definitely worth a try. Consider the alternative that is happening there now. Invoking Santeria to save jobs at the Herald.
But a *styrofoam* rooster?
June 16, 2008 - 12:10 ET by sarcasmoI used to live down there, and that's not real Santeria. Real Santeria means really dead critters, usually on the courthouse steps! And I'm curious, was the Herald ever anything but either left or far-left (with the rule-proving exception of Dave Barry, who is gone)? If so, I don't recall it. I am sure that Tom Fiedler is, for example, extremely anti-gun.
JMR
The tax & spend drug war looks racist in the real world.
Miami Herald, NY Times, CBS....they don't get it
June 16, 2008 - 19:30 ET by jefflebowskiAs readers and viewers decline, none of these geniuses have figured it out that they are alienating a tremdous amount of people with their left-wing crap. I'm really suprised that someone hasn't gone head to head with Fox for the more conservative view (although Fox isn't really conservative).
Jeff Lebowski
www.angrywhitedude.c...