As layoffs continue in the Chron newsroom, SFGate.com is hosting a Colleagues Remembered page where you can read brief biographies of the departed. It’s pretty grim — SFist called it “Portraits in Grief-like” — and it’s painful to imagine the still-employed at their desks eulogizing those who got the tap on the shoulder. But it’s probably one of the only opportunities readers will have to see the faces of the editors and writers who made the newsroom hum, and a way to get a glimpse of what some of them might be up to next. One example: veteran political reporter Marc Sandalow will reportedly be working on a biography of Nancy Pelosi.
Through the magic of the Interweb — and the fact that most news stories these days automatically include a way for readers to comment on them — it’s also given the public a place to make last-minute pleas for clemency. Writes one reader:
“Dear Mr. Bronstein, We should not mourn or celebrate by paying tribute to the day our journalists begin to fade from the pages of our daily lives. … It is a mistake that all of these good people are being remembered. These people should be writing at your paper right now! … I am saddened you choose to pretend to celebrate your good friends instead of taking the time and money to make sure they all stay with you and continue to grow our worlds. “No one reads the paper!” Keep saying it, Phil, and you will make it a final reality. What a sacrifice because of a need for a quick financial fix!”
Layoffs are expected to continue through Monday.
