Now, a newly surfaced memo opens a window on events around Paulson's mid-December announcement. The Gannett Digital memo reveals USAT's role in pilot-testing a service, planned to replace some Associated Press feeds to Gannett's 84 U.S. community dailies.
Tipsters say Paulson, 55 (left), and maybe Publisher Craig Moon weren't keen on the role assigned USA Today in ContentOne. The web-based service is now debuting as national news anchor for Gannett's coverage of President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration, across all the newspaper websites.ContentOne got its start as long as six months ago. I first heard about it in mid-November, when CEO Craig Dubow described the idea to Courier-Journal employees in Louisville, Ky. Accompanying Dubow: communications Vice President Tara Connell, Gannett's official cheerleader; a former USA Today managing editor, Connell would soon emerge as a ContentOne leader.
Dec. 10, Dubow formally unveiled ContentOne before a high-profile conference of Wall Street stock analysts at New York's swank Hyatt Grand (background, left).Without mentioning the AP or USA Today, Dubow said ContentOne would create a "national head to the local content gathering bodies."
A week later, Dec. 17, Moon announced Paulson was leaving after nearly five years, to become president and chief operating officer of both Freedom Forum and its best-known project, the Newseum, effective Feb. 1.
Moon said surprisedThat Wednesday morning, Moon (left) told employees in a memo that he had learned about Paulson's decision only that week. Later in the day, Paulson told The New York Times he wasn't "running away from anything,'' in quitting Gannett's 2.3-million circulation flagship. "This is the only job that would have convinced me to leave USA Today.''
Yet, Paulson had just lost another 20 jobs from the 450-member newsroom. One of his No. 2 editors, Kinsey Wilson, had quit in September for the top digital job at National Public Radio; Wilson, one of USAT's most Web-experienced senior editors, wasn't going to be replaced. The print-online merger still wasn't done, two years after it was first announced. And now comes Corporate -- with publicity chief Connell in the mix -- wanting to lean on its marquee property, to feed national news to the long-neglected community dailies.
Or, as a Dr. Frankeinstein-esque Dubow pitched it, help create a "national head to the local content gathering bodies."
Memo: AP Feed Project pilot
Two days after Paulson's announcement, Dec. 19, the Gannett Digital memo disclosed Corporate's AP Feed Project test -- "a pilot (and eventual company-wide rollout) where we will ask newspapers to swap out their AP news feeds for the USAT equivalents."
Paulson is on Freedom Forum's board of trustees, and is a former chief of staff to founder Al Neuharth. He's replacing another former top USA Today editor, Peter Prichard, 65, whose planned retirement may have been accelerated to accommodate Paulson.
Don't get me wrong: Paulson has plenty of reasons to want the Freedom Forum/Newseum president's job, starting with the pay. In 2007, the foundation paid the current president, Prichard, $297,791 in wages, plus $40,124 into his benefit plan, and $59,775 for expenses, Freedom Forum's public IRS return shows.
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If this gets USAT off its ass to help the community papers, I am all for it. This is the first time in the last 20 years that I have seen USAT contribute anything to the community papers, which provided the financing to create it and still subsidize its operations. If USAT is to survive, it has to contribute something back to the community papers, and this plan looks like it will. It will also get those lazy USAT employees off their duffs and out there getting stories for us. A great day, IMO.
ReplyDeleteIsn't ContentOne a different initiative than the swapping out of the AP news feed? I believe the latter is an online-only initiative that will allow the community websites to piggyback the AP feeds that USATODAY.com receives rather than ingest them (and pay for them) themselves.
ReplyDeleteWhy would anyone believe what any of these USAT people say? Paulson was obviously leaving for a reason, and it wasn't just a better job offer. Ditto on Wilson. They lied about the layoffs and how they would be conducted and what criteria would be used, and some good people were lost as a result. The place is an utter mess and those at the top get the first look at how bad things are about to become. They cover their asses by saying all the "right" things, even as they leave for better jobs or just simple retirement, but we know this is a newspaper organization that is filled with deception, lazy asses and people who shouldn't be working in a once honored profession. I hate what USAT has become. It's one game after another. Everyone I've ever trusted is gone. Some of these new leaders are evil. They pretend to be your friend but watch your back. They are no friends to anyone. Watch out for those who were previously running the web site and now are taking over print too. They are the worst of the snakes in the grass. They will sell you out in a second and pretend that they are saddened by your ill fate or lack of staff or whatever, even though behind the scenes they are the ones who brought upon your professional destruction. Ever since they moved into the neighborhood, things have been decaying rapidly. I don't think that is a coincidence.
ReplyDeleteTo the anonymous reader who would have been 11:19 pm if I had not rejected your comment. (It began, "Let's not make Ken Paulson the next coming of Jesus Christ.")
ReplyDeleteFirst, I never thought anyone would accuse me of going easy on Paulson! Second, I had to spike your comment for this reason:
You wrote about a certain long-ago Gannett executive who had in his office a "couch and escape door to run to his girlfriends." (I recall the couch, but not the escape door.) In any case, I can't publish that stuff, and you know it.
Also, totally and completed unrelated to all of that, who is this Myron guy?
Look at the USAT masthead: Myron Maslowsky is VP/finance.
ReplyDeleteProtecting the Little Rock mafia? Or just worried that certain posts will violate your severance agreement terms?
ReplyDeleteI don't think you realize when you actually have a commenter who knows what is really going on in this company.
You don't know Myron? When did you leave USAT? How is it that a business reporter does not know the head of finance at his own paper?
ReplyDeleteSorry if we came to close to touching Little Rock Mafia, but everyone who knew what was happening there (or Nashville) is not surprised about what is going on at USAT.
1 am: The only restriction in my severance agreement was this: I could not take a job at another Gannett paper while I was still getting severance.
ReplyDeleteThere was none of the non-disparagement language that I think you are alluding to.
Myron is the guy that saves Craig Moon ancient ass every day.
ReplyDeleteMyron is one of the best finance executives this company has. He should be running the show over at corporate.
A few things:
ReplyDelete- What was Paulson making each year for the past 5 years?
And,
- Are USA Today staffers upset about Paulson's departure? He was a good editor and nice guy, correct? What's the concensus?
Myron is formerly of Gannett internal audit and counts beans. Not too sure what he understands about leading a business but he really knows how to count the beans. I guess the other thing he knows about is cost cutting but that is part of counting those beans. Lots of old beans but not many new beans.
ReplyDeleteto 8:59: USAT became profitable over ten years ago in case you didn't hear. Who is subsidizing it now?? And by the way, it is much older than 20 years. I think you are also pretty crass to call USAT employees lazy.
ReplyDeleteI admire Paulson, Wilson and anybody else who leaves Gannett, regardless of what they say about why they did it.
ReplyDeleteThe falsehood that community papers continue to subsidize USAT is just that --a lie -- and is one of the most tiresome lies I read in here (and I'm pretty sure, based on the consistent tone of the text, it's one person doing the lying).
ReplyDeleteI basically thought Paulson was a good guy. I think that job is so much about schmoozing with the public, setting big-picture policy and serving as USA Today's public face, and I thought he did all of that just fine. His time in office was about the same as that of past USAT editors.
As for Paulson, Wilson et al leaving, well, you don't have to be a weatherman to see which way the wind blows.