Regarding my post about former Atlantic Group chief Robert "Patton" Collins, a reader says he doesn't see much chatter on Gannett Blog about The Journal News at Westchester. "This is the site of one of Gannett's greatest failures in recent years. They merged 13 great local papers into one regional paper in 1999, and circulation and revenues have dropped dramatically ever since. . . . The strategic failure in Westchester is a microcosm of the company's lack of vision over the last 10 years."Gannett is losing ground at most of their properties, yet they still own a treasured asset -- original, local content. Someday, they will figure out how to leverage it."
Join the debate, in the original post.
[Image: this morning's Journal News. The paper says student Michael Loscalzo is now attending Brewster High School dressed as a woman, in anticipation of receiving a sex-change operation]
The problem with Westchester was every new editor wanted to make a mark by reinventing the place. A new exec editor would change the direction, usually returning to what was being done two editors before, claiming a great new course was being established.
ReplyDeleteOf course these "bold" moves were rewarded with a President’s ring and a big bonus. It was laughable for veteran staffers, who really understood the fragmented nature of the county, but who were never asked for advice on what would be best for readers.
Ego was the name of the game. Ego and incompetence.
Bob Ritter was the poster boy. He came in wanting to turn the place into the New York Times.
"Sophisticated" was the catch word. Problem was: Our readers already bought the New York Times.
The irony was Ritter was an unsophisticated tyrant, a blowhard who screamed at his underlings like a crazed football coach. And then he would retire to his office to check on his stocks and play computer solitaire.
And all those editor/friends he brought in, after his great "national search" for the best possible team of highly paid leaders, either left or were fired within a year or two.
A few remaining underlings today carry on his tradition, masking their incompetence with intimidation.
Ritter’s predecessors as exec editor by no means were Ben Bradlee. But Ritter proved to be the Nero of Westchester. And his scorched-earth legacy lives on.
I was there. The most convoluted mess ever created. We cut down a whole forest to print reports on the multi-mastheads.
ReplyDeleteGannett never was known for competing well in metro markets.
It was a "solution looking for a problem." The cost of running a business, high advertising rates, staff turnover...and management indecision. It should have killed Sherlock's career but it didn't.
The hellhole of the '90's.
Track down the former editors, the surprising names...Beaupre, Paulson, and Freeman.
ReplyDeleteAmorphous content, reputation, and direction. Too transient, too complex, too expensive, too everything.
They have lost about 50,000 on Sunday...one of the few strengths even against the NYT. Under normal circumstances it would have been sold if not for the proximity to Wall Street and the need to protect the Gannett name.
Leave this out of the memoirs.
All was not perfect under Joe Ungaro who preceded Gary Sherlock.
ReplyDeleteThe downsizing began and it never let up. Fifteen years it seems of never-ending staff cuts...and turmoil.
Is there still a marketing department within Gannett? Westchester failed, in part, because they couldn't promote themselves as a single entity.
ReplyDelete...Westchester Rockland Newspapers.
...Gannett Suburban Newspapers.
...Gary Sherlock Newspapers.
...The Journal News.
Not even the award winning, John Green, from the SCJ days, could save the day.
Collins would have been a lost boy in that atmosphere.
There was at one point a guardhouse as you drove up the driveway. It too was downsized.
I wonder when they will fold the Poughkeepsie Journal into the Journal News and make it a bureau, saving even more money.
ReplyDeleteIt is now called WASTECHESTER. I was there for 14 years and took the buyout. Ritter did leave behind some of his people and one of the worst still remains because he is an old USA Today flunky along with Freeman. I think his title was AME of presentation but most of them received new titles with the restructure of the newsroom into the Information Center.
ReplyDeleteHorseshit. Looks like shit, smells like shit, its still shit.
ReplyDeleteTitles. Westchester was the champion of titles...VP's of toilet training, VP's of diversity, VP's of the golf committee.
Talk about confusion and double-dipping. Bodies were flailing around to get attention. Protected turfs everywhere.
I'll never forget Bob Ritter presenting a new ethics policy to the staff with a solemn face and serious tone. At the very same time, he was accepting free Broadway theater tickets.
ReplyDeleteWhat I could never understand was why people like that got into journalism. Or what would tempt them enough to give up every ounce of integrity. Guess they weren't sharp enough for IBM. So they decided to sell their journalistic souls.
Simple. The best brains knew better than to transfer to Westchester. Moon as a foreinstance. Paulson, I can't explain.
ReplyDeleteWESTCHESTER DECEIVING ADVERTISERS!!!
ReplyDeleteIf you click on the link below it will take you to a page that Westchester has set up to gives advertisers circulation numbers, too bad they are listing the 2006 numbers and not the 2008 numbers. Is this legal or ethical? How low will these people sink?
Check it out:
http://www.lohud.com/about/prod-tjn-circ.shtml
The Beaupre and Paulson years were the glory days for Westchester. They were strong editors who could stand up to Sherlock.
ReplyDeleteIt all came tumbling down under Ritter, who was Sherlock's hacket man. Ritter tore apart the newsroom and the newspaper, hired a bunch of boobs and alienated readers.
For Westchester County's sake, Gannett should sell the franchise to someone who understands the market. Readers buy the The New York Times for national/international news and Gannett for their local, neighborhood news.
The ship has sailed. Fifteen years too late.
ReplyDeleteYou all, too many of you, just don't get the reality as to how divisive the continued changes were on the readers. The faces, the boots, the offices, all changed.
Who gave a damn? Not many. Ritter was just another salary. Endless nobodies.
Pride. Gannett has none.
Westchester hasn't cornered the market on the constant stream of changes creating continued reader confusion. How many other publications out there have received multiple direction-charges within a couple of months?
ReplyDeleteOver $100 million in revenue...and they still couldn't get anything right. Next!
ReplyDelete150,000 in Sunday circulation. Does that mean a reduction in advertising rates back to what existed in 1990? Or does that mean that there will be no rate increases for the next five years?
ReplyDeleteDo I get a rebate for 2007?
Ethical. This is Gannett. We set our own rules.
Note to Jim Hopkins: Thanks for giving my Westchester entry such good play on your blog. I believe the company's failure in Westchester and Rockland is a great case study in the ineffectiveness of the Gary Watson reign, which may ultimately doom the entire company.
ReplyDeleteThe Watson-Sherlock duo took 13 great local papers and merged them into an irrelevant regional rag. Today, almost 10 years after the consolidation, the franchise is in deep trouble and losing subscribers to weeklies and the New York Times. This same short-sighted thinking left Gannett unprepared to respond to the online world.
The saddest chapter in this story is the Rockland paper. Once a vibrant, influential daily, the Rockland edition is now the laughing stock of the county. A skelton staff directed by people who live in NYC has lost complete touch with the community. Front-page stories are routinely devoted to the weather and car accidents with very little in-depth reporting. The newspaper has no presence in the community other than a few reporters and photographers chasing police news, politicians and ambulances.
Cablevision launched a 30-minute nightly newscast in 2006 that has quickly become Rockland's most respected news outlet. Disgraceful.
@3:17 p.m.: You are welcome; it was a terrific idea!
ReplyDeleteI interviewed in White Plains recently and was floored by the setup within the newsroom. After interviewing with one person after another, I was told "this person is in charge of this," "this person is in charge of this," "this person is in charge of this," etc. After each session, I was asked "any questions" to which I said "no." What I really wanted to reply was "yes, who is actually doing the work around here. Certainly not all these supervisors." I tested next to one copy editor who kept mumbling to himself "ugh, ugh." I wanted to say "nice place to work?" After being positioned near where they do live cut-ins for the local news channel, one obnoxious editor said to me "make sure you don't walk in front of the camera during the interview with the reporter." I wanted to say "thanks, you jerk, I didn't know I shouldn't walk in front of someone doing an interview in front of a TV camera." Turns out, I wasn't offered a position, so I wish I really said it. The arrogance in that building was disgusting.
ReplyDelete