Two months ago, Buckhead Coalition President Sam Massell slammed Turner Broadcasting System Inc. after the media giant warned of impending job cuts that would affect its Atlanta operations.
At the time the former Atlanta mayor said, “Some folks have civic commitment and some don’t, and it shows.”
On Monday, Turner said it would cut its workforce by about 10 percent, or 1,475 workers, with the brunt of the cuts, 975, coming from metro Atlanta. Fewer than 300 of the job cuts will be at CNN Worldwide.
“It could be worse,” Massell told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday. “I try to look on the bright side of whatever confronts us, in spite of our disappointment and negative feelings about any business that seeks other centers for whatever they think will be beneficial to a for-profit business. They follow their bottom line more than any other dictate.”
Massell’s reaction reflects general concern that Time Warner Inc., which owns Turner, has gradually viewed Atlanta as less important to its programming and operational decision making.
Time Warner acquired Turner in 1996. The company was founded by media mogul Ted Turner nearly three decades earlier. Since the acquisition, Time Warner has been shifting Turner’s power base to New York, the parent company’s headquarters.
Most of the stars at CNN, probably Turner’s most recognizable property, are now based in either New York or Washington. Just a few days ago, Turner announced Pascal Desroches had been named chief financial officer, shifting yet another executive post from Atlanta to the Big Apple.
In announcing the cuts, Turner noted that “Atlanta remains the company’s largest employee base, with more than 5,500 full-time employees.”
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said after the Turner announcement that the city was confident Turner’s leadership would work to preserve jobs in the city where TBS was founded.
A.J. Robinson, president of Central Atlanta Progress, was optimistic Turner would become stronger with the restructuring and eventually would hire more people locally.
“Restructurings, unfortunately, are part of the business world,” Robinson said. “Atlanta has proven to be an extremely resilient city when it comes to these types of announcements. I don’t think it’s going to have a long-term effect at all.”
CNN is a major tourist attraction in downtown Atlanta, with tourists regularly posing for photos in front of the cable TV news network’s huge sign at CNN Center.
“CNN sees hundreds of thousands of tourists through their doors annually,” said William Pate, president & CEO, Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau. “As long as CNN remains headquartered in Atlanta, there is no reason to believe visitor interest would be significantly impacted.”
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