The Ax Falls at Blethen
Staff at the Blethen Maine Newspapers got the word this afternoon. Much of the senior editorial team at the Portland Press Herald, Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel is not being retained by the new owners.
Among those being let go are Jeannine Guttman, executive editor of the Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram; Andrew Russell, local news editor at the same papers; John Porter, editorial page editor at the Press Herald and Telegram; Marcia MacVane, who oversaw the Portland papers’ morning Web updates and community news; and Eric Conrad, editor of the KJ and Sentinel.
According to a reliable source, the dismissed editors will receive severance packages. The source also said senior staff members who will be kept on when Pennsylvania newspaper publisher Richard Connor assumes control of the papers have been sent letters telling them their jobs are safe.
According to an industry insider, Connor’s purchase of the three dailies and other Blethen properties will be completed within a week. Replacements for Guttman and the other ex-editors have not yet been named.
Al Diamon can be e-mailed at aldiamon@herniahill.net.
The views expressed on this Web site are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily represent the views of Down East Enterprise or its employees.
As someone with insider
As someone with insider knowledge of the Press Herald for a number of years, I can say that the people laid off there may be personally missed, but not professionally missed in the least. The paper can still run without them just fine, thank you. The PH has some good reporters, what it needs is a few good editors. It is with great hope that I look forward to some good editing at the paper.
non news managers?
would like to see the names of non-news managers who have been asked to leave - and/or those who have been asked to stay.
So who's staying?
Does anybody know who's staying?
Old news online, still, at
Old news online, still, at 6:44 a.m.
If you cannot say something
If you cannot say something nice about someone you should say nothing at all, according to an old bit of wisdom. With that in mind, I have nothing to say about the demise of Conrad and Guttman.
I will say that it is simplistic and wrongheaded to paint with too broad a brush in this situation, a la Munjoy, by maligning all of the folks who are losing their jobs. In my experience, for example, Andrew Russell and John Porter do not deserve the blanket criticism that has been heaped on them by some. We all have our faults, but people are complex creatures, and some of those who got the ax have redeeming qualities as well. (And no, I am not Russell or Porter.)
Broad brushes
Those who were around in the 90s know that Porter's tenure was more than as a company hack, as Munjoy is so quick to say. He was the chief troublemaker in the union and unapologetic about his role; that it didn't cost him his eventual promotion is a mystery even now. And say what you will about his carrying company water, but there's no denying he was one of the smarter and at times saner voices in that newsroom.
Yuh-Roh
5:02 a.m. and the PPH website still shows yesterday's news?
Yuh-Roh Shaggy.
Must say
When I worked at the PPH, lo many years ago, I found that Marcia MacVane was one of the nicest and most helpful people around.
Anonymously, and from far away, I wish her well.
Ditto
You're right - Marcia is great and deserves our best wishes!
GoodBye Marcia MacVane!!
Hopefully the Press Herald website now will assume the appearance of a professional CITY NEWSPAPER website and that of a small home town rag.
What did they have, perhaps 8-10 lines headlines, 80% static graphics? What a wasted newshole. Sometime this fall/winter they introduced advertising appropriate to Maine (no more Verizon ads), but what about using the website as a come-on for people to get them to subscribe to the paper -- and how about after reading an article, showing them a list of most viewed articles to get them to stay on the website -- we have itchy fingers -- we fly across the country at the click of a mouse.
mr john
The ax
One word... Karma
Connor's Sturdy Broom
The 'brooming' of No-Longer Editors Jeannine Guttman and Eric Conrad is many years overdue, welcome, and NO SURPRISE.
Still, it's heartening to see that manifest unprofessionalism and serial incompetence have not escaped Rich Connor's eye.
Similarly, the gating of tame and lazy Blethen water carriers Andyman Russell and John Porter was a foregone conclusion.
And the lengthening list of the guillotined surely contains clueless WS/KJ Publisher John Christie and his sidekick, Naomi Schalit.
Without question, George Myers Jr. will be taking his know-nothingness elsewhere. Myers, who along with Conrad was a a central figure in the rotten-pack-of-lies debacle that cost talented reporter Joel Elliott his job, cannot possibly survive the purge. Connor is far too savvy for that.
That the Wretched Blethens will foot the bill for the 'early-retirement' payouts of the management team that robbed a once-respected newspaper of its credibility is as it should be.
Rebuilding the PPH et al will not be easy, but with the architects of disaster out of the way, certainly in the realm of possibility.
Thomas Cushing Munjoy
munjoy@gmail.com
Shut up Munjoy
You're a bitter and angry coward. Some good people have lost their jobs. Probably the last jobs they will have in newspapers.
Is this what happened to you and turned you into the hack you are today? Or were you always this vile?
Some people won't be missed. Neither will you. Keep your attempts at proving how clever you are in Oklahoma.
Munjoy, king of snark
Munjoy decided a long time ago that snark always trumps insight. Perhaps that explains why his posts, more often than not, are so sophomoric. Or maybe he really is a high-school sophomore.
Some of the folks getting axed should have been canned a long time ago. We can only hope that their careers in journalism are over. Others are good people who deserve better treatment than they are getting. Here's wishing them well.
Snark and insight
Snark and insight are not mutually exclusive. Jon Stewart comes to mind.
people or person?
"Some good people have lost their jobs?" More like one good person.
"Probably the last jobs they will have in newspapers?" Big deal. Wha wha wha. Now they have the opportunity to try and screw things up in other fields, too.
Wrong
You're wrong about George.
what about city editors?
Hey Al:
Are there any rumors about Jim Evans and George Myers?
With apologies to Francis Ford Coppola
Michael Corleone: "Barzini is dead. So is Phillip Tattallgia. Moe Green. Slacci. Cuneo. Today I settled all family business so don't tell me that you're innocent. Admit what you did."
Sounds like Connor's last meeting with Conrad.
Shouldn't you mean...
Apologies to Mario Puzo?
Yes, but not exclusively
I was referring to the screenplay -- not the book. Both had a hand in it and we can include Robert Towne while we're at it, though he's officially uncredited.
Oh Good Lord
Don't you people have anything better to do?
Bye Bye
The damage the fired editors have caused to public policy by virtue of their slanted coverage will take decades to be undone. In my opinion Naomi Shalit & David Offer should be on the list too. And I'm a Democrat.
Schalit is probably the best
Schalit is probably the best editorial writer in the state today. Yes, she has a bias -- she's an editorial writer. Even her editorials I don't agree with are well argued and make me think. As for Porter, the door can't hit him in the butt soon enough.
I completely agree with the
I completely agree with the description of Schalit as the best editorial writer in Maine. She is smart, articulate, witty, well-informed and passionate about the issues. (She also is in no way responsible for the posting of this comment.)
Her writing is a breath of fresh air, considering some of the sanctimonious, and often incomprehensible, crap that has appeared in KJ editorials in years gone by. Any suggestion that the purge should claim her as one of its victims is nothing short of idiotic.
She is in no way responsible for this posting
Riiiiight. If anyone knows the coordinated write-in campaign, it's an editorial page editor.
My question is what she'll do when asked to write an editorial like THIS
http://www.timesleader.com/opinion/columnists/connor/Defending_country_i...
I hope she'll refuse
Connor's support of torture is a worrisome sign for the PPH and Telegram. I can understand the position, but here it is not even intelligently argued. This is not encouraging.
Trust me, 8:05 p.m. I'm one
Trust me, 8:05 p.m. I'm one of the people who praised Schalit in an earlier post, and I can assure you that no one "coordinates" what I have to say about anything.
Ah yes, only the occasional
Ah yes, only the occasional favorable post is a coordinated write-in campaign, and all the comments criticizing various individuals are not. (/sarcasm off)
As for your link, Connor wrote that himself, not one of his editorial writers. So -- your point?
Wow! This person is as
Wow! This person is as well-informed as the comics who post inane reader comments on the KJ web site, which is to say, frighteningly ill-informed. Fire David Offer even though he doesn't work for the Blethens anymore? What a great suggestion!
Do you even have any idea what you're talking about?
David Offer has been retired from the KJ for the last three years...Or was that the last time any of you bothered to pick it up and actually read it, instead of sit in your cubicles and complain about how bad it is?
Snark and Schadenfreude
It's great when media people can comment anonymously.
So fun to watch.
Oh Please
If Naomi Shalit is such a wonderful and objective reporter how come she didn't reveal her conflict of interest regarding the Fort Halifax Dam until AFTER the fact? You remember that one - the fully functioning renewable resource that supposedly wouldn't impact anyone with property on the water. Pay no attention the man behind the curtain or to the home's now falling into the river! How many salmon have gone beyond the Edwards dam in several years? A dozen! Please! These reporters/faux environmentalists are CMP hacks. A few weeks ago David Offer was whining about the lack of investigative journalism. He was probably too addled to make it to Naomi Shalit's cubicle. And don't even get me started about Susan Cover's weekly tea party report in "On Maine Politics" or Hannah Pingree's & Libby Mitchell's daily propaganda pieces. What oh what will the left wing do? Oh My!
7:34 p.m.: How about
7:34 p.m.: How about developing a basic grasp of how newspapers work - you know, the difference between reporters and editorial writers, for example - before spewing pablum about how "the left wing" runs the show. Or, better yet, save your posts for some topic that you're intimately familiar with, such as the topless coffee shop in Vassalboro.
Hey 5:24am. & 10:00pm.
I noticed how you both blather on and on about reporter v. editorial writer, but didn't see any refutation of the comments. Silence implies agreement doesn't it?
Topless coffee shop? Where did that come from? The shop wasn't in my comments and isn't even on my mind, but I see it is on yours. Dirty mind? That whole matter was just a manufactured KJ/MS distraction from real news - such as what is and has going on in the state house and Blaine house.
Maybe Susan Cover, Naomi, or David Offer will write something substantive about the legislature or Governor or even do some actual investigative journalism. Don't count on it. They are all to busy hanging out together at Slates or the Liberal Cup. Lapdogs every single one of them.
Please indeed
Please learn the difference between a reporter and an editorial writer before posting tripe. Schalit writes editorials -- they're supposed to be opinionated. She isn't a reporter, has never claimed to be during her time at the KJ.
Correct, she is not a reporter
That's why she is allowed to make so many factual errors. Oh wait, there's another reason too.