Nearly two years ago United Feature Syndicate fired me as Editor of Acquisitions and Development. Er, laid me off. Technically, it was a “reduction in force.” They fired me. During the three years I worked at United, I signed some of the most exciting and innovative comic features in newspaper history: “The K Chronicles” by Keith Knight, “Family Tree” by Signe Wilkinson, “Secret Asian Man” by Tak Toyoshoma, “Rip Haywire” by Dan Thompson, and “Diesel Sweeties” by Richard Stevens. During a time of economic collapse, especially in the media it was a miracle that two-thirds of my comics survived. (The industry average is one quarter.)
Today United announced that it will essentially cease to exist as of July 2011. All of its operations—sales, distribution, editorial—will be outsourced to Universal Uclick in Kansas City. (Universal Uclick is my syndicate for editorial cartoons and op-ed columns.)
Today’s announcement became inevitable with my layoff—er, firing—in April 2009. “Without acquisitions,” I told a soon-to-be colleague as I packed my stuff, “there are no new features. Without new features, a syndicate has no future.”
Landing at Universal is the best fate the cartoonists and columnists being transferred from United could have hoped for. Universal is financially viable and run by nice, honest people. Generally speaking, however, consolidation is always bad for media. It limits diversity and freedom of choice.
United did not fail because newspapers or newspaper syndication is unviable. It failed due to shitty management. Short-sighted executives not only didn’t have ideas; they shot them down when smart people spoke up. If there were any justice, they’d be thrown in jail and their assets would be redistributed to the scores of decent, hard-working workers who are about to wind up in the street due to their negligence and malfeasance.
6 Comments.
They were the ones with the stuffed Dilbert who looked on as they canned you, right? I can’t get that image out of my head.
They must be following the Maya Calendar…
The syndicate of Schulz & Bushmiller, hard to believe.
They’d still be in business if they weren’t run by morons. It’s a viable business.
I’ve been laid off a couple of times and it’s not easy. I refer to it as being fired too. My wife has to remind me i wasn’t fired and the result had nothing to do with me. Ted, you weren’t fired. you’re welcome.
Hey, happy 80th birthday to Mikhail Sergeyevitch! Though he was once a politician (thus, with extremely rare exceptions, a low-life) he managed to abdicate power without resorting to bloodshed and put a tombstone to a ghastly social experiment that took the lives of tens of millions, in Russia alone.
Now, I’m surprised Ted Rall hasn’t come up with a nasty cartoon to “celebrate” the occasion.