PAID EXCLUSIVE: Register editor had the misfortune of running newspaper at the end of news

Signing up to be a Gannett editor means you're going to put people out of work

AI image generated with Microsoft Image Creator from prompts written by the author.

Carol Hunter announced her retirement as executive editor of the tattered remnants of the Des Moines Register.

Best wishes and many happy returns. Cue Roy Rogers and Dale Evans singing “Happy Trails.”

It’s rare to make it to retirement in journalism these days, so that is worthy of noting.

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I didn’t.

Carol was the voice on the end of the phone in May 2020 when my I was laid off and my days supporting myself as a writer ended.

I don’t blame Carol.

She was doing what people become executives at Gannett do: Put people out of work.

Don’t mistake me: Editors don’t take the job expressly to put people out of work. They’re mostly well-intentioned people who think they can do some good in the offal of corporate journalism. They can’t, but journalists are dreamers.