Friday, February 15, 2008
Nashville's Silverman: Been there, hated that
Will former high-flying Gannett editor Mark Silverman, now at The Tennessean, ever learn it's not OK to be a bully? His behavior may have cost him a shot at News Division chief Phil Currie's job, when Currie eventually retires. Hello, Corporate! Why do you continue to tolerate this behavior?
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Don’t think corporate cares. They seem to reward the bullies. As a former Gannett (Pensacola) employee I witnessed the publisher throw fits and threaten that “fucking heads are gonna roll” if he didn’t get his way. Add that stress on to being overworked and the fear of being laid off on a daily basis – not a very healthy work environment.
ReplyDeleteAfter successfully avoiding working for Gannett for most of my career, I inadvertently became a Gannett employee via takeover of the paper where I had dug in to earn a pension.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair about it, most of my Gannett bosses were the more or less genial mediocrities and corporate climbers now typical in newsrooms, although I absorbed occasional unjustified beatings even from them. But what I will most remember about working for Gannett is a reign of terror, during which I and my coworkers were abused by the nastiest and meanest bunch of thugs I encountered in a lifetime in this once-honorable business.
I would prefer that my child flip burgers in hell forever rather than work for a company like Gannett.
Bullying, hot-tempered editors are part of the culture -- and probably not just of Gannett. Some bully quietly, others noisily, like the Silverfish. They never learned how to lead people -- and many of them have abberent personalities -- so they bully others to get their way.
ReplyDeleteBut it truly seems that Gannett breeds and rewards such bullying, doesn't it? Maybe the industry at large breeds it too. Maybe journalism calls its mix of weak and strong - the weak looking for strength by bullying the general public and then Gannett rewarding their bad behavior by promoting them.
ReplyDeleteI have to hang to the theory that Karma is a boomerang - and that it will eventually catch up with the Gannett managers I've watched berate people on a regular basis.
OMG!!! Silverman is a douchebag? What will we discover next?
ReplyDeleteThat dickhead's career is over.
Silverman was one of Gary Watson's boys, wasn't he? Seems to me Watson, who was never accused of being a teddy bear, hired and promoted a lot of people who shared his battle-axe management style. Maybe a different type will come in under the new regime. TV type managers. Which is what? No attention span? Easily distracted by shiny things?
ReplyDeleteThe Detroit News' journalists felt liberated when Gannett sold the paper and took Silverman's boot of their necks. There was a burst of creativity and energy in that newsroom after he left.
ReplyDeleteAs a low-level inmate of a Silverman concentration camp, I actually enjoyed some benefits of his reign. He demanded better and more innovative coverage...and, for a while, was willing to pay for that coverage. But he surrounded himself with useless lieutenants...and they became the instruments of his terror. And those underlings would sacrifice anything (and anyone) at their master's altar.
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