Interim Publisher Skip Hidlay got the top job at the Home News Tribune in East Brunswick and at the Courier News in Bridgewater, effective immediately, a Gannett Blog reader says. The reader cites a memo, sent to staffers moments ago. Hidlay had earlier been the top editor at the Asbury Park Press."Gary Schoening will continue to run the day-to-day newsroom operations at the Asbury Park Press while we begin the search for a new executive editor,'' the memo from Asbury Publisher Tom Donovan says, according to the reader.
Hidlay, 49, replaced Publisher Ketan Gandhi, who abruptly left the company in late March. More than a month later, Gannett has yet to confirm his departure, or explain why he left -- fueling one of the most-discussed topics on this blog.
[Photo: Asbury Park Press]
Maybe Donovan will help to turn around the nasty reputation left by Collins.
ReplyDeleteThe Asbury Park Press was respected, well-read and interesting before Bob Collins came in. The people who worked there were actually proud to work for the newspaper. Maybe Tom can bring that respect back to the paper and the employees.
ReplyDeleteGandi is over at Bobby's house cutting the grass. And helping to write the memoirs...one page. Donovan stops for ice tea.
ReplyDeleteWe'll have to see what Donovan does with a blatently morally corrupt company. How did he perform anyway in Westchester?
ReplyDeleteTheir circulation is way down in the toilet.
I worked with Skip Hidlay while he was at the Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, NJ. Hidlay is a bright, energetic and creative person who really deserves better than Gannett. The fact that he survived working under Bob Collins is a tribute to his 'guts' since Collins is a tyrant and nasty, vulgar person who fit the Gannett management mold perfectly. Good luck Skip...get the hell out of Gannett as soon as you can! The ship is taking on water and about to go under.
ReplyDeleteFirst Ketan, now skip. Ouch...that hurts ...this one's gonna leave a mark.
ReplyDeleteIf Gannett was baseball, this would be a FOUL.
It's HOW you survived Bob Collins not that you survived him.
ReplyDeleteYo, I love the dialog and Collins has taken the focus off of Dubow for the moment.
ReplyDeleteBut Phoenix, and the West, what's the news??? 62 lost positions at the Arizona Republic and no comments??? Did the blog get lost in East Brunswick? Collins was colorful...I can see him in an old '59 Cadillac, top down, with a hot blond on his head...puffing away.
If you see him on the Boardwalk, put him on an amusement ride and just let it go.
Congratulations, Skip!
ReplyDeleteAlready hearing good things about you: your aim is to keep the news in our local papers LOCAL. Hooray! Good luck on turning this mess around.
''Survived Bob Collins''? He thrived under Bob Collins and Bob liked his LITTLE General so much he took him from Camden to Asbury with him. Skip is the poster child for Gannett. The morale at the Press was so low they replaced the front door with a revolving door. I was fired after complaining about the dynamic duo Skip and Bob.
ReplyDeleteChris Erwin
Hey, East Brunswick, Neptune and
ReplyDeleteBridgewater. Thanks for stealing our thunder. How about a poll, Jim, which Jersey property is the most miserable? (Note to out-of-staters, Neptune=Asbury). Winner can have its IT department offshored to the part of Dubai shaped like NJ.
Love,
Cherry Hill
Gannett is just like my wife. She makes all the possible wrong choices before making the right one.
ReplyDeleteGood luck skip. Lets show them all the things that ketan missed.
Hey 6:38 a.m. If you think Skip is the right choice, you really have no clue. Get out the knee pads or body armor. Maybe the Prozac.
ReplyDeleteYou'll need at least one of those.
Cherry Hill's best work -- passionate, relentless local coverage -- happened under Skip's leadership. Any Courier-Post alums that don't agree are probably the same mediocre staffers that the rest of us at Cherry Hill were happy to see go.
ReplyDeleteHey folks, all new publishers go into the job with great ideas and ambitions to show how it SHOULD be done. Then the corporate seagulls fly in and shit all over, scaring the hell out of everyone. Then the budget pops up and pressures mount. Then the quarterly expense cuts come down and you have less and less resources to do what you want to do. You finally throw your hands up, knowing they are tied and you CAN'T do what you intended to do. That's just the way the company is run.
ReplyDeleteHey Cherry Hill, at least the thunder is all we're stealing from you. And by the way, thanks a lot for giving NJ a bad rep with all the potty talk down there! Like we all don't have enough problems.
ReplyDeleteI loved working for Skip when he was at the C-P. A former AP man, he was a cheerleader, a passionate newsman, and he cared about our stories.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how he did it, but he fought and won to give the newsroom regular salary increases every six months. Not merit raises. These were $30 per week, every six months until we reached a certain level, because he thought our salaries weren't competitive enough for the market. Those increases ended after he left.
A father of five, Skip was also very understanding to people with families.
Skip is one of the good guys.
sorry. got the year wrong - could not be 2003.
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