Unwise to reduce Courant’s staff during public health crisis

I learned via Twitter that the Courant’s State House reporter is out on unpaid furlough. Meanwhile our public health commissioner has been fired with little explanation from the governor, a $100 million education partnership has collapsed due to a billionaire’s discomfort with “politics” (i.e. accountable management of public funds), and a private consulting firm has been unilaterally hired to reopen Connecticut.

There’s never a good time to reduce your State House staff — the middle of a public health crisis couldn’t be a worse time.

I’m in awe of how the Courant’s skeleton staff is staying on top of these critical stories.

The same furloughed reporter was also posting obituaries of private citizens who have died due to COVID-19. This is not hard news, but stories which define the extent of what, and who, we are losing as a state. I’ve read each of these in the hope that these people did not die alone or in vain.

I don’t expect Tribune Publishing to do the right thing by their customers and staunch the loss of reporting resources. Its fealty to its shareholders was well-documented long before the pandemic, and the effects have been obvious in the relentless narrowing of the Courant’s pages.

So I’ve taken David Fink’s challenge [May 14, “The role of journalism in the time of pandemic. Readers respond”] of purchasing subscriptions for my grown children who live in Connecticut and California. It’s a small gesture, but one which hopefully will forestall that the next obituary I read is the Courant’s.

Barry Rahmy, Simsbury