Treat this as an old-fashioned blind item. I hear there's growing talk among staffers about a potentially big management change at the nation's top-circulation paper. I e-mailed the individual in question three days ago, but I haven't heard back. (And, honestly, I didn't expect to.) So, now I'm asking USA Today staffers: Tell me about the water-cooler talk of changes afoot.Please use this link to e-mail your response; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the sidebar, upper right. Or leave a note in the comments section, below.
Moon takes over Clark-Johnson's job and Barbara Henry from Indianapolis goes to USA Today? Henry worked there once I think. Moon is a marketing person who talks about USA Today being a "brand" a lot. Not sure about his credentials in the world of journalism.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting -- but that's not the staff "talk" I'm hearing about. Keep commenting, everyone; I'd like to get to the bottom of this ASAP.
ReplyDeleteThey get rid of the old school VP’s in advertising that have not contributed anything substantial since the ‘90’s – Unless you count that “Culture of Fear” thing..
ReplyDeleteGive it up Jim what are you hearing...just give us some hints...initials only?...and welcome back you are doing a great job.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could be more specific, but I first need to know what USAT staffers are hearing.
ReplyDeleteRumors for a long time that Paulson might quit but that's just spec. Is that getting warmer?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous
Mmmmm. It's starting to feel as warm as a February day in Brazil!
ReplyDeleteWe think he regrets he left his gig with Freedom Forum and walked into a cost and staff cutting environment. He came in upbeat and creative how's he looking now.
ReplyDeleteI believe the average lifespan for those who have held the USAT editor position is a little more than four years. If I recall correctly (please correct me if I've missed someone) the editors have been John Curley, John Quinn, Peter Prichard, Dave Mazzarella, Karen Jurgensen and Ken Paulson. Since the newspaper is about 25 1/2 years old, that means the average tenure is 4.25 years. Therefore, it may be logical that Paulson will return to the First Amendment Center (and go back on musical tour with Freedom Speaks)or to the Newseum in an executive capacity. But that's my personal speculation. I claim no inside information. Could Silverman be his replacement? He was a frontrunner for the post when Paulson was hired.
ReplyDeleteSilverman? Interesting. USAT publisher Moon was in Nashville once so it would not take him long to check in with his pals there about how Silverman is doing. That could be very good or bad depending on various views of Silverman.
ReplyDeleteOther finalists last USAT editor search were Bushee who is now back in his home of California and Louisville's Bennie Ivory...Bennie would be great at the job. I don't seen any internal candidates do you Jim? Unless you want to go back lol.
ReplyDeleteSilverman as a serious candidate? Please. Craig Moon passed on that suggestion about four years ago when he chose Paulson. And Moon did so when Silverman had the support of Gary Watson, who, as well know, is now retired from Gannett.
ReplyDeleteSilverman as USAT's top editor? That's a nightmarish thought - consider we all KNOW what a hot head he is. He's like the spoiled little boy who got picked on so much as a kid he's finally able to release all that pent up anger - put him in a pressure cooker like USA TODAY and you're just begging for someone in there to go postal - at his expense.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Silverman and E.J. Mitchell, Gannett Blog readers might find this article from the Nashville Scene interesting:
ReplyDeleteFebruary 28, 2008
Smells Like Team Spirit
Gannett deals with one of its troubled papers, and it’s not The Tennessean—yet
By Matt Pulle
If you think Gannett’s a shitty place to work, you’re more right than you think. The nation’s largest newspaper chain is investigating allegations of plunging morale at Cherry Hill, N.J.’s Courier-Post, run by former Tennessean editor E.J. Mitchell, after a well-circulated anonymous letter detailed how both the “men’s and women’s bathrooms have been deliberately soiled by feces in separate incidents.”
Staffers at the Courier-Post blame the paper’s literal and figurative mess only partly on Mitchell, who they characterize as an amiable, if erratic, boss with questionable judgment. The real culprit is Gannett—for running a newsroom on the cheap. The company, they say, continually fails to replace departing reporters and to update aging publishing and design software. The net result is an unimpressive paper and an anxious, frustrated staff that’s been galvanized by an artful crap left in the office can a few weeks ago.
“The placement of the poop in the men’s room didn’t seem like it was an accident,” one Courier-Post staffer tells Desperately from the bowels of Gannett. “It wasn’t near any stall or toilet.”
The analysis goes on. “Journalists definitely like to gossip, and word spread about it in no time,” the staffer says. “I think everybody thought of it as a protest.”
A few weeks later, someone else crapped in the women’s room, but our source wonders if the “circumstances of how the poop was distributed made it seem like it was something of an accident.”
Good times.
It was the anonymous letter, as best as Desperately could tell, that broke the news of the, um, protest movement, with the author attributing it to something worse than just a bad lunch. Addressed to the publisher of the Courier-Post and reprinted on a well read (and unauthorized) Gannett blog—a veritable refuge of Gannett dissent—the missive also tells of overworked employees, high turnover and a chaotic, mismanaged workplace “embodied by the soiling of the bathrooms.”
Finally, the letter writer alleges that the paper’s scrambling staffers have not been paid for overtime work and threatens to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor.
No doubt because of that looming threat, Gannett corporate doesn’t dismiss any of the allegations outlined in the correspondence.
“We have seen the letter, and we are looking into it,” says Tara Connell, Gannett’s vice president of corporate communications.
In fact, Gannett will be dispatching human resource personnel to interview Courier-Post employees about some of the issues raised in the letter, including overtime. That would mark the second time in recent weeks company officials have paid a visit to the New Jersey newsroom to investigate morale and work issues, with the first time coming on the heels of the premeditated dumping. You can only wonder when they will plop in on Nashville.
Desperately recently chronicled the combustible management style of Tennessean editor Mark Silverman, who antagonized his newsroom when he hurled a newspaper at features editor Cindy Smith. Now gossipy reports are gushing out of 1100 Broadway that Silverman screamed at a janitor and called him a series of names after he walked in on the man polishing a journalism award. In fairness to the janitor, the plaque was probably covered in cobwebs and needed a good scrubbing.
If this encounter sounds like a fuzzy anecdote, it certainly echoes long-running stories of how Silverman runs his newsrooms. A 1997 Columbia Journalism Review piece said that staffers at the Courier-Journal in Louisville characterized Silverman’s brief stint as editor as a “reign of terror.” Of course, reporters can deal with an overbearing tyrant if he’s pushing for great reporting, but not so much if he’s using his weekly column to shill for his paper’s mommy blogs.
Silverman did not return numerous messages from Desperately asking him about his alleged encounter with the janitor. In any case, we humbly suggest he be as amicable as possible to his newspaper’s cleaning crew. The time may come when he really needs them.