The Courier-Post's Corporate website lists E.J. Mitchell (left) as its top editor right now, but several readers say in e-mail to me that Publisher Tim Dowd announced Mitchell's departure today. He was named executive editor in September 2006.(Updated: Gannett spokeswoman Robin Pence tells Richard Prince it's true.)
The newspaper drew nationwide attention in February 2008, when Corporate confirmed it was investigating employee complaints about unpaid overtime, after they threatened to go to regulators at the U.S. Labor Department. Courier-Post staffers dubbed the episode '"Poopgate" because of -- well, read all about it here.
This is a great story. If it happened anywhere outside the newspaper, I bet it would appear. Cherry Hill should get on top of this before someone else does their business for them.
ReplyDeleteWell, Cherry Hill, you go what you've been wishing for, now be prepared for the consequences.
ReplyDeletehttp://bit.ly/aHdbpL
ReplyDeleteWill the next hire be another outlander dumped on Jersey like some of the other execs foisted upon the GNJ group? I also expect nothing but brilliance from corporate!
ReplyDeleteI agree with 8:32am. As a lifelong resident of South Jersey and a Courier-Post subscriber, it would be nice to see a managing editor or executive editor who is actually from South Jersey. I always found it puzzling that Gannett would fly in an editor from some other part of the country who would then immediately state that he or she "knew what South Jersey readers want."
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't matter what South Jersey wants! That's been the way the Courier-Post has been run for years. The truth is that this newspaper doesn't care what South Jersey wants as evidenced by the complete lack of coverage in many of the communities. The (new) publisher is not from South Jersey, the last few executive editors weren't from South Jersey and aside from a few of the long term reporters, most of the reporters are not from here and have no idea about the culture and desires of this community. No wonder that the circulation of this paper has dropped to below 50k daily. If it weren't for the horrible job being done by the Philadelphia Inquirer (covering South Jersey), the Courier-Post would go down the drain even faster. The Inquirer pretends to provide South Jersey coverage but when you look at their South Jersey section(s) there is mostly news about Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania suburbs. What a joke. Who are they fooling. These papers are done...stick a fork in them.
ReplyDeleteRebecca Collins your table is ready
ReplyDeleteCulture? South Jersey?
ReplyDeleteI have not read anywhere what happened, and why he was let go. Given the deplorable record on diversity in executive ranks, this must have caused considerable angst in the Crystal Towers. He must have got on someone's bad side for some reason.
ReplyDeleteGannett let go a very talented Managing Editor at Cherry Hill last year. She has been sorely missed.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know the last time a Gannett executive editor left in this fashion? Very unusual.
ReplyDeleteDiversity is more than just race and gender. Gannett (for all their other faults)has been very diverse when it comes to employing executives. Sexual orientation and religious/cultural diversity is evident even at the smallest community newspapers.
ReplyDelete3:03 pm: I saw it happen in Boise; one day he just stopped coming to the office. We never got an explanation from the publisher, but it was clear that Corporate was unhappy with our newsroom.
ReplyDeleteAbout low long ago did that happen in Boise? My guess is that having an executive editor leave like this is a pretty rare occurrence.
ReplyDeleteNice man - marginal talent
ReplyDeleteEver consider that E.J. reached the end of his rope and decided to LEAVE on his own?
ReplyDeleteEver hear the old saying, "Here today, Guam tomorrow?" When someone disappears like this, it's not voluntary.
ReplyDeleteWhy was EJ laid off?....big meetings at the Courier Post in Cherry Hill today.Asbury Park big shots from Asbury Park were there to discuss how and when they are going to consolidate Copy Editor functions to Asbury. If all layout is going to Asbury they obviously didn't need EJ anymore. After the classified ad-taking was moved there last year, and the art dept hits the dust after the conversion to RTC on Aug. 2nd, it seems obvious they have every intention of shutting the place down by end of year.
ReplyDelete@2:44...Joyce, is that you?
ReplyDeleteI thought NJ's go live for RTC was March 22nd. The rest of the NJ papers already off-loaded most of their production staff.
ReplyDelete@9:19...I had the exact same thought.
ReplyDeleteThose attacks on the former ME are too strong to publish as comments. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to the Courier Post's last publisher - W.Lafferty? I saw he left in December - and the CN/HNT publisher just left. What's going on in Jersey?
ReplyDelete10:07 and 11:09:
ReplyDeleteThat is the biggest problem with Gannett. Corporate thinks that all readers want the same thing: nationwide. That's why you'll see the paper in Palm Springs do a test run of an "initiative" that is then rolled out to the Florida and Jersey papers and vice versa.
There is no appreciation of how different local communities are and that readers like truly local voices, even on national issues. If we indeed see USA Today pages replacing interior sections of the local papers it will be one more step toward irrelevancy. The USA Today work is fine, but I can already buy that in my market. That's not what I get the local paper for.
There's also very little appreciation for the skills that the staff has. The best papers evaluate reporters, learn what they do best and put them in situations where they can thrive. Gannett executives reporters and editors around willy nilly, like chess pieces, assuming that it doesn't matter who writes what story.
Imagine if the New York Times took this approach and suddenly announced that David Pogue would be covering the crime beat and Will Shortz would be writing about technology. It wouldn't be the paper that it is, and that's one reason Gannett doesn't have a single publication that rivals the Times. For the most part, the company's reporters aren't as passionate about their jobs because they're moved from one thing to the other with little consideration. I'm sure that also leads to higher turnover and an even greater disconnect with the community.
Actually, the NYT does, indeed, move reporters among beats that involve big subject changes. The national desk is in the process of doing those very swaps.
ReplyDeleteIt's done to keep coverage fresh, and to bring new perspectives. But I wouldn't the NYT does it willy-nilly style. I believe it's planned ahead, with a fair amount of thought in matching strengths to subject areas.
Following is an edited version of a comment posted by Anonymous@11:40 am:
ReplyDeleteMitchell and the company [must have reached] some kind of impasse. . . . Someone there at the C-P must know. Ordinarily a rising star or golden boy like Mitchell would have been destined for a plum job upstream, either at USAT or corporate. . . . There's definitely more to this story.
Reply to anonymous
ReplyDelete3/31/2010 9:19 PM
Cherry Hill's original go-live date was May 5th - then it was pushed back to Aug 2nd.
Asbury Park went live with RTC on Monday 29th March as there were some problems on 22nd. So far, no comments from there as to what is happening....come on you lot!
Wilmington was scheduled to go live today (1st).
Didn't this guy work in Wilmington? He looks very familiar
ReplyDeleteWhat is happening in NJ? Skip goes from APP to CN/HNT (a step down IMO) and then leaves Gannett for an out-of-state gig. Walt goes from DR to CP to oblivion (?) Are the upper ranks being thinned for the long-rumored New Jersey Today statewide paper?
ReplyDeleteYes, E.J. worked in Wilmington.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe too many tears were shed when he departed.
This is the year C.P. goes down.
ReplyDeleteWe all hope the C.P. Goes DOWN this year. If not this year PNI Is coming after the C.P.
ReplyDelete