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  • Approved for CNN

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    Posted December 18, 2009 by
    BarbRad
    Location
    Bentonville, Arkansas
    Assignment
    Assignment
    This iReport is part of an assignment:
    Economy Tracker: Your stories

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    Newspaper Reporter Laid Off by Merger

    By BarbRad  |  Posted December 18, 2009  |  Bentonville, Arkansas
     

    CNN PRODUCER NOTE     Jamie Smith says 2009 'was a mixed bag for me financially.' She got married the previous year, and says living in a two-income household helped pay for medical bills and other expenses. Unfortunately, she was laid off from her position at the Benton County Daily Record in October.


    Now, Smith is applying for unemployment and building her freelance business, Jamie's Notebook. BarbRad will follow her progress throughout 2010.
    - katie, CNN iReport producer

    I have known Jamie for almost 8 years (7 years and 10 months, but who's counting).  During that time, she has been THE WOMAN to go to with school news.  The education reporter for the Benton County Daily record, Jamie drove her wheel chair like a knight riding a favored steed; nothing kept Jamie from her story!

     

    Then came the merger of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, a giant newspaper conglomerate which long ago digested the Jamie's newspaper, and the Northwest Arkansas Morning News.  The new syndicate didn't need two education reporters, so Jamie was laid off.

     

    Most people would have been devasted.  Jamie got busy starting her own company, Jamie's Notes.  Here is Jamie's story.

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