Awwwwww... Tooo Baaaad!!! Let's get out the violins!!! LOL!!!
--- forwarded message ---
XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX WED JAN 24, 2001 9:15:48 ET XXXXX
CNN TELLS STAFFERS TO GET OUT; GUARD ESCORTS, COMPUTER SHUT DOWNS, TEARS!
COO CALLS LAYOFFS 'NOTHING MATERIAL'; TURNER VOWED 'MOST SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS
COMPANY WORLD HAS EVER SEEN'
Shocked employees are being told to pack it up and get out in hours as
layoffs hit the once-mighty allnews network CNN this week.
Hundreds of fired staffers are forced to sign papers agreeing to release
and severance pay.
Security card-keys and IDs are confiscated, but not before passwords on
their work computers are changed, preventing them from retrieving personal
files and cutting them off from their e-mail. Some are returning to their
desks to find their telephones disconnected.
The NEW YORK POST's Adam Buckman reports that uniformed security guards
stand and watch as the dismissed - some crying - clean out their desks. The
guards then escort them like common criminals to the exits.
Seven security guards were on hand to supervise the firings at CNN's Sunset
Strip bureau in Los Angeles on Monday, where employeees were let go moments
after an internal memo was issued warning of hard times ahead.
"I felt like a criminal, a crook, a loser," one fired on-air talent told
the DRUDGE REPORT late Tuesday. "Maybe I am all those and more, I worked
here for so many years. I'll never be able to log on to AOL again, without
feeling blind rage."
Adding insult to pink slip, AOLTIMEWARNER's co-chief operating officer
Richard Parsons has called the layoffs -- involving many veteran CNN
staffers -- 'nothing material'.
In an interview with the LOS ANGELES TIMES last week, Parsons explained:
"This merger is not about layoffs. But in any merger, you are going to have
some overlap and redundancy, with the exception of co-COOs (laughter)...
There will be some personnel actions you will hear about in the coming
days, but nothing material."
Among those fired were Greg LaMotte, who was captured by Iraqi soldiers at
the end of the Gulf War and held in captivity for a week.
'SOCIAL DESTINY'
The firings come a year after CNN founder Ted Turner vowed the new merger
will create "the most socially conscious company the world has ever seen."
AOLTIMEWARNER head Gerry Levin declared: "We care not only about value
creation... but also the values that we feel we can leave as a legacy...
that have a lot to do with the social destiny of people everywhere. This
merger is not just about big business. This is not just about money. This
is about making a better world for people."
AOLTIMEWARNER chair Steve Case added: "We have an unbelievable opportunity
to really make a difference, not just in terms of the services people use,
but also in terms of the kind of impact we can have on society."
AOLTIMEWARNER's first impact on society: burdening the nation's
unemployment rolls.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Reports are moved when circumstances warrant
http://www.drudgereport.com for updates
(c)DRUDGE REPORT 2001
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