“No Job Is ‘Safe’…Including Mine”

“For several years, I’ve reported on the changes sweeping our newsrooms,” writes ShopTalk/TVSPY.com editor Tom Petner today. “No one is immune. No job is ‘safe’…including mine.”

Petner’s full-time editing job is being eliminated to cut costs, according to former MSNBC President Erik Sorenson, CEO of ShopTalk/TVSPY parent company Vault.com. He says “it is not a decision I am taking lightly because [Tom] has been terrific…”

Instead, Petner’s “duties will be spread around to an internal team”, with Andrew Gauthier as “point man”, effective next Monday. Sorenson says he contemplated selling TVSPY, ShopTalk, and message boards Water Cooler and Sandbox. “But…I’ve decided to keep it all going but with a lower cost base.”