Douglas E. Jessmer

Well, sorta. The Tampa Tribune, which debuted its two-section weekday paper this past Monday, is taking a step backward — to a three-book paper, beginning today.

Executive Editor Janet Coats said:

On Monday, we asked you to tell us what you thought about the Tribune’s redesign. Boy, did you take us up on that invitation.

We’ve heard from thousands of you, on the phone and through e-mail. We’ve listened carefully to what you’ve told us, and we’re responding.

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A good friend of mine had his employment terminated from a national newspaper this week, and it came as a shock to him. There’s been a rash of people, it seems (whether it’s a rash or not, I’m not sure), who’ve been hired somewhere, then fired within weeks. I don’t know whether to be frustrated or angry about it.

Some of these people made life-changing moves to accept the positions they get cut from, and it devastates the once-and-former hire. Sometimes, it’s crushing. (I speak with a little experience here.)

Maybe there’s some questions that need to be asked. Feel free to add questions, or debunk them. I think maybe it’s time we all exercise some caution, especially with the changing economy. There’s too much at stake now to continue feeding this instability.

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I bought Monday’s edition of The Tampa Tribune late in the day, just before I did laundry. I started to post a new response on Charles Apple’s blog, where he introduced the redesign, on my phone, with one problem — there was no “Post” button under the longwinded comment I wrote.

Dammit. Windows Mobile sucks as much as regular Windows does.

Do I like it? It’s great if you’re a scanner. At least 90 percent of the weekday Trib’s stories are shorties and briefs packages. There’s lots of photos, a graphic or two, and even the op-ed page (page 21) is geared for quicker reads and more reader interaction.

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For the last time, let’s get this straight.

The Dallas Cowboys play in Irving, Texas, not Dallas.

The New York Jets play in New Jersey.

The Texas Rangers play in Arlington, not Dallas or Fort Worth.

And the Tampa Bay Rays play in ST. PETERSBURG.

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Al Tompkins of The Poynter Institute is connected to my Twitter feed. That, in and of itself, isn’t a big deal, because a lot of people are connected to him. But he’s been posting links on Twitter concerning breaking news — and today, he’s posting links regarding the federal bailout of the American financial services industry, otherwise known as the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (EESA) of 2008.

WARNING: This is NOT a visual journalism post. It’s a post that I hope may inform some reporting, though. We need to get to the bottom of this and expose the people who really put us here — especially those in Congress. No better disinfectant than sunshine.

When I saw Al’s links today, and read them, I got angry. (By the way, Al, thanks for sending them, as you do every day.)

This isn’t a typically American solution. In a free market, which is one of America’s hallmarks, companies that make bad choices suffer for those choices. Unfortunately, the size and scope of the failure has such a huge impact that… well, the misery of the solution will be spread across the entire country.

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