Saturday, March 28, 2009

Tucson: 'The city will be far less rich for the loss'

Tucson Citizen columnist Anne T. Denogean writes for the Tuesday and Friday editions; the 139-year-old Gannett paper is now in what may be its final days of publication. I obtained the following from a Gannett Blog reader late last night, amid reports that a Denogean column got spiked this week when a Gannett Corporate employee objected to some of the text. I've made only minor editing changes.

John Travolta played the male equivalent of a dumb blond in the 1970s sitcom, Welcome Back, Kotter. As Vinnie Barbarino, his signature line, delivered with great angst whenever a situation became too convoluted, was: "I'm so confused!

That's the state of the Tucson Citizen survivors -- oops, staff -- at this point.

We thought we were running our last edition March 21. Potential buyers entered the picture at the last minute and Gannett corporate changed our status to day-to-day. Then, Gannett extended our reprieve to Friday. As I'm writing this column on Thursday afternoon, no one is committing to a Saturday paper, but the staff is writing stories on the assumption there is one.

As for what happens next week, well, that's confidential.

The details provided to staff have been skimpy. As a member of this staff and a lifelong resident of Tucson, of this much only am I certain.

This community is going to lose the Tucson Citizen as many know and love it and the city will be far less rich for the loss.

Look, the Citizen is either going to close the doors in the near future, or, based on the limited information being circulated in the newsroom, a new Citizen will emerge as a far different animal than what it is now.

Even my friends at the Arizona Daily Star, many of them former Tucson Citizen staffers, would agree this town deserves more than one major daily paper.

When it comes to reporting on a community, more is simply better. And you can't underestimate the importance of competition in the news business. Stories are broken and owned on both side of the Park Avenue complex that houses the Citizen and the Star.

The Star can toot its own horn.

When I first began at the Citizen 15 years ago, the paper looked very much alike on any given day, with the same stories. But as the Citizen's reporting staff shrunk over the years, and we decided we couldn't cover everything. we actually became free to do things differently. The focus switched from trying to beat other local media (although that never goes away entirely) to trying to do our thing.

As just one recent example, with her relentless reporting on the Lute Olson saga, Renne Schafer Horton tread where few sports reporters in this town dared to go. She asked tough questions and got answers.

Eric Sagara was reporting on the subprime mortgage crisis before almost anyone else in the nation.

Fernanda Echavarri, one of our youngest reporters, dug deep into a story that no other media was interested in. She uncovered the corruption of the top cop fired from South Tucson and delved deeply into the question of who knew what, when.

Susan Caroll, now at the Houston Chronicle, covered the border crossers, telling the stories behind the gruesome death, and explaining the reasons behind the mass exodus from Mexico.

Mary Bustamante and Larry Copenhaver, for years, conducted a high school student opinion poll that won national honors.

We at the Citizen have been far from perfect at what we do

But we've been pretty damn good at it and we'll miss doing it.

I will miss being a part of it.

16 comments:

  1. And what about this column was unacceptable?

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  2. It's not a surprise that a Gannett Corporate robot rejected this column. It expresses affection for its staff and reminds readers of what they will miss when the paper is gone. That's bad for Corporate's strategy.

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  3. My thoughts exactly!

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  4. Why would you do any editing at all? Couldn't you resist the urge to just give it to us straight?

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  5. I agree with 12:35. There is nothing objectionable there. It is a well-written column that could have and should have run.

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  6. Did the paper close?

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  7. The column wasn't finished. She was still working on it when Ann Clark interfered and Anne decided on her own to spike it.
    This is her rough copy.
    Whoever gave this to Hopkins went into Anne's Quark queue and copied it. It wasn't Anne.

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  8. 1:23 pm: My editing dealt with some garbled text, which you can see, below, in the original, sent to me:

    John Travolta played the male equivalent of a dumb blond in the 1970s
    sitcom, ³Welcome Back, Kotter.²


    As Vinnie Barbarino, his signature line, delivered with great angst whenever
    a situation became too convoluted, was:


    ³I¹m so confused!²


    That¹s the state of the Tucson Citizen survivors ‹ oops, staff ‹ at this
    point.


    We thought we were running our last edition March 21. Potential buyers
    entered the picture at the last minute and Gannett corporate changed our
    status to day-to-day. Then, Gannett extended our reprieve to Friday. As I¹m
    writing this column on Thursday afternoon, no one is committing to a
    Saturday paper, but the staff is writing stories on the assumption there is
    one.


    As for what happens next week, well, that¹s confidential.


    The details provided to staff have been skimpy. As a member of this staff
    and a lifelong resident of Tucson, of this much only am I certain.


    This community is going to lose the Tucson Citizen as many know and love it
    and the city will be far less rich for the loss.


    Look, the Citizen is either going to cease operations in the near future, e
    either going to close the doors in the near future, or, based on the limited
    information being circulated in the newsroom, a new Citizen will emerge as a
    far different animal than what it is now.


     Even my friends at the Arizona Daily Star, many of them former Tucson
    Citizen staffers, would agree this town deserves more than one major daily
    paper.


    When it comes to reporting on a community, more is simply better. And you
    can¹t underestimate the importance of competition in the news business.
    Stories are broken and ³owned² on both side of the Park Avenue complex that
    houses the Citizen and the Star.


    The Star can toot it¹s own horn.


    When I first began at the Citizen 15 years ago, the paper looked very much
    alike on any given day, with the same stories. But as the Citizien¹s
    reporting staff shrunk over the years, and we decided we couldn¹t cover
    everything. we actually became free to do things differently. The focus
    switched from trying to beat other local media (although that never goes
    away entirely) to trying to do our thing.


     The Citizen, just by virture of being a separate paper with its own editors
    and a reporting staff with their own interests, often writes.


    There¹s also the competition factor. The reporters at the Star like breaking
    a story. And the reporters at the underdog Citizen l


    The Star and The Tucson Weekly break many stories. In turn, the reporting
    staff the Tucson Citizen breaks or simply owns many stories.


    As just one recent example, with her relentless reporting on the Lute Olson
    saga, Renne Schafer Horton tread where few sports reporters in this town
    dared to go. She asked tough questions and got answers.


    Eric Sagara was reporting on the subprime mortgage crisis before almost
    anyone else in the nation.


    Fernanda Echavarri, one of our youngest reporters, dug deep into a story
    that no other media was interested in. She uncovered the corruption of the
    top cop fired from South Tucson and delved deeply into the question of who
    knew what when.


    Susan Caroll, now at the Houston Chronicle, covered the border crossers,
    telling the stories behind the gruesome death, and explaining the reasons
    behind the mass exodus from Mexico.


    Mary Bustamante and Larry Copenhaver, for years, conducted a high school
    student opinion poll that won national honors.


    When I first began at the Citizen 15 years ago, the paper looked very much
    alike on any given day, with the same stories. But as the Citizen¹s
    reporting staff shrunk over the years, and we decided we couldn¹t cover
    everything. we actually became free to do things differently. The focus
    switched from trying to beat other local media (although that never goes
    away entirely) to trying to do our thing.


    We at the Citizen have been far from perfect at what we do.


    But we¹ve been pretty damn good at it and we¹ll miss doing it.


    I will miss being a part of it.

    ReplyDelete
  9. What do we know about Ann Clark?
    She was rather rude to me once, but it was a corporate visit and I believed at the time all corporate visitors were expected to be cold and unresponsive.
    Why is the she the person to watch over the newspaper during this transition? What does she bring to the table?

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  10. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  11. Thanks, Jim, for the Tucson surge. You missed a few opportunities last week but you can't be everywhere at once. Thanks for making up for it, and I hope you'll keep it up!

    Citizen staffers: Please consider a Web product similar to InDenverTimes/IWantMyRocky. I'll contribute $$$!

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  12. But did the paper close?

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  13. The Tucson paper remains open, at least through early next week, while Gannett continues talks with two unidentified bidders, GCI's Tara Connell has said.

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  14. Just being a wise ass, Jim. It was a going away column and the paper (as yet) hasn't gone away.

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  15. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  16. The going away column running a week ago would have looked pretty dumb in retrospect, no?

    ReplyDelete

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