A glimmer of sunshine for the newspaper industry, or a validation of its worst practices? Newspaper giant Gannett’s stock was upgraded to “buy” from “hold” by an equity research firm. The rating change didn’t come out of any great zeal for Web 2.0 innovation (see: the website for the Arizona Republic, its second-biggest paper), but because of Gannett’s notorious — but apparently successful — cost-cutting measures. In July, Gannett confirmed the firings of more than 1,400 employees.

Like so many media brands, Gannett’s Westchester, New York paper The Journal News is undergoing a massive restructuring. But besides economic woes, things are anything but typical at the Journal. When it comes to layoffs, all 288 employees were shown the door. Then they were told they could each reapply for one of 218 “redefined” positions. One of the less fortunate casualties was indignant, if a little ignorant: “How is the fact that I don’t have a Twitter or Facebook account relevant to what I do?”