But... but... who will save the critics?

Last week was not an especially good one at Reeler HQ for a number of reasons, but I try to take solace in knowing things could always be worse. Take the situation at The Village Voice, for example, where a source tells The Reeler the newsroom is set to self-destruct in about 24 hours:

(T)he Village Voice's union issues don't seem to be over yet. Even though a contract was agreed on a month ago, (last Thursday) the management surprised everyone with an announcement that writers and editors wages would be slashed ? and the senior editors getting hit the worst. The whole office is infuriated... it's a rather underhanded move, and possibly a breach of contract.

The rumor is that this all has to do with a sale to another company--I hear it's the New Times chain--and they want to cut the budget down to nothing to make the sale sweeter. But this whole thing could blow up in their faces, because nobody would want to buy a paper with labor problems.

So there is going to be another walkout on Tuesday, and the plans are its going to be quite angry. I heard that they plan to take copies of the contract and burn them on the street--no joke. There are also plans for a byline strike, starting next issue.

A byline strike? Next issue?!? That is hardly enough time for us to prepare our cheat sheets distinguishing Michael Atkinson (sample praise: "a pulsing sign system of repeated melodramatic totems") from Dennis Lim ("a boho-rustic polysexual fantasy"), don't you think?

At any rate, Voice critic-for-life Robert Christgau showed up on Jim Romenesko's blog last week detailing all the specifics of the latest outrage, and Gawker probably supplied the best primer for the whole sordid affair back in June.

And try to look on the bright side, Voicers. Things could be even worse: You could be working at the New York Press.