Linda:
        News that Thomson plans to get out of newspapers is undoubtedly a
surprise and a landmark decision for one of the most powerful news chains
in the world.
        It's will also bring a great sigh of relief. Thomson has the worst
reputation in the industry for being tight-fisted and having it's eye
firmly glued to the bottom line. Anyone who has worked at Thomson knows of
it's ridiculous fixation with profits at the expense of quality, and its
people. The horror stories of working for Thomson are legendary. I've been
there myself.
        As a way of reference, the latest Thomson initiative is the
Writer's Inc. program whereby average, orindary joes off the street are
brought into newsrooms, trained for eight weeks at a special Thomson boot
camp and made journalists. The idea from Thomson brains is that anyone can
be trained to work as a journalist and it can teach the skills needed in
eight weeks, thereby diminishing a college journalism degree, or any degree
for that matter. That's how Thomson values it's employees, by telling them
anyone can do their job.
        The question that begs to be asked is whether Thomson can destroy
the quality of Internet products much like it did with its print
involvement. I suspect Thomson is doing this because it sees the Internet
flush with money and it can turn a bigger profit with less overhead. That's
capitalism and can't generally be faulted. But I suspect that we will, in
true Thomson fashion, see inferior products, poorly managed and conceived
ideas, and impoverished workers. And I imagine they will adopt the
philosophy that they can take a truck driver and convert him into a web
master in eight weeks.
        Let's hope that's not true.
        To all of you out there, let this be a warning.