Five year study hopes to discover if layoffs make journalists sad

If any of the soon-to-be-fired staff of The Kansas City Star make it over to the Angry Journalist Web site to vent — and lord knows they deserve to vent — they’ll see a plea from University of Kansas assistant professor Scott Reinardy to become part of his study. If they e-mail the j-school prof, they’ll be part of a rigorous scientific process to test a bold thesis: Firing a newspaper’s staff will change news coverage and depress journalists.

Take a second to pick yourself off the floor, and I’ll explain more after the jump.