Any one for a Crappy Media Person job?...

Are the senior people at the Courier group so divorced from reality that they can't notice when they've cocked up and end up rubbing salt in the wounds? In the last few months they have decided to turn Community Life columnists into "Community Media Partners" asking them (including me) to, not only work for no payment, but also to sell ad space to local businesses on their behalf to go on a community blog. On top of that they have managed to lose a laptop with all out bank details and addresses contained on it, presumeably not security protected, thus exposing all their freelances, and I understand many staff, to the very real possibility of identity fraud. More than two thirds of the columnists have now, mysteriously decided that now is the time to call it a day, some of them after 14 years of service for £9 a week. But, hang on I nearly forgot, they did give us £3 a month, yes that's right a month, expenses. Just enough to be able to buy a copy of the newspaper each week (which of course they made us pay for!) I remember nearly four years ago, a time when I was more used to national newspaper fees, laughing out loud when Jane Davies, their editorial office manager, told me during our only face to face meeting the rates of pay. She managed to keep a straight face but I'm sure she must have been embarassed down inside; if she wasn't then she should have been. During my time at the paper I was only once asked to go to any kind of social function, the Heart in the Community Awards; this was the only opportunity they provided us with to meet up with a few of the other columnists (possibly to share ideas and improve our columns, who knows.) Not that I really expected it but we had no Christmas party, no annual gathering, no visits to the print works, no meeting with editorial staff, no organised trips, in short bugger all. Now to cap it all, they have the audacity to ask us in their ..."sorry you've decided not to continue with writing your column..." final parting letter if we could "urge" some other suitable friend to phone Jane Davies with a view to becoming CMP's (the abbreviation for their new title which probably really stands for: Crappy Media People) So here you go, here's an invitation to someone out there: Does anyone want to write a community column for a local newspaper which is going slowly but surely down the pan, become an unpaid advertisement sales person, never get to meet any of your colleagues, get virtually zilch expenses, recieve no free copy of the newspaper in which your column appears, and potentially have your identity stolen by some Russian mafia henchmen when they lose you details. Any takers?...