So you’re scraping by on the money the NYT has been paying you — enough to live reasonably well, not enough to save a whole heck of a lot.

Then your paper gets sold. You hold your breath and find out you still have a job.

Then this …

Halifax Media tells new employees to sign non-compete agreement | JIMROMENESKO.COM

So when you leave a smallish newspaper to go elsewhere, you must first spend two years living off … nothing.

Unfortunately, that means something very simple: Tell your colleagues not to work for one of these papers. The only entities offering a deal worse than this have red capes and pitchforks.