New Moon Jobless Day

As Atrios points out, Thursday is new jobless day. But not every lost job this week is a matter for concern or sorrow.

Take this feel-good story:

Several dozen employees at Insight, a biweekly news magazine, and the World & I, a monthly educational journal, sister publications of the Washington Times, are out of work today as both publications wind down operations.

On April16, the magazines' owner, News World Communications Inc., a subsidiary of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, announced it would no longer print Insight and the World & I, as well as Noticias del Mundo, a Spanish-language newspaper in New York City, as of April 30, said News World spokeswoman Diana Banister. A total of 86 people are out of a job, out of 1,200 employees worldwide. A small staff is to stay on to maintain the Insight and World & I Web sites, editors said.

"These are the first significant layoffs in the history of News World Communications," Banister wrote in an e-mail.

Closing the three publications will save News World "millions of dollars," said Banister, and allow News World to "reposition" its other media assets.

...

News of the layoffs surprised many employees. "It's a difficult time," said World & I Associate Executive Editor Eric Olsen, who declined to comment further.

Several top managers of Insight and the World & I are looking into whether a relaunch is feasible, said Banister. The staff of Insight is also searching for a different publisher.

"I'm optimistic about finding new investors," said Insight Managing Editor Paul Rodriguez.

News World's reorganization would not affect any of its other outlets, which include the Washington Times, the Washington Times National Weekly Edition and United Press International. News World also plans to keep publishing Noticias del Mundo in 15 Latin American countries, as well as in Washington and Miami.

...

In its heyday, Insight was a training ground for many of today's top conservative journalists. Among the magazine's notable alumni are Weekly Standard Managing Editor Richard Starr, New York Post columnist John Podhoretz and author David Brock.

Paul Rodriguez shittcanned! Is nothing sacred? This is the biggest loss to journalism since Jack Kelley turned in his last expense report.

Perhaps the Father will consider a lateral hire and tap Paul for a position at one of his handerkerchief dry cleaning stores.