In a story this afternoon, The Tennessean at Nashville says of the new job for its top editor, Mark Silverman:
"Silverman will be part of a team helping the company's news organizations transform their coverage and increase their local impact at a time when the media landscape is changing rapidly. This will be Silverman's third tour of duty on the Corporate staff. He also has served as top editor in Detroit; Louisville, Ky.; Rockford, Ill., and at Gannett News Service."
He starts in mid-September.
Silverman's first tour at Corporate was in his role as a prime architect of News 2000, a quality control campaign launched in mid-1992 under Phil Currie, who ran the News Department at the time.
Kate Marymont is now chief of the department, which has broad oversight of the editorial content and staffing at virtually all the 82 U.S. newspapers. The Tennessean doesn't say whether Silverman will report to Marymont, however.
It's my understanding that Silverman was involved in developing the latest quality control campaign, dubbed passion topics on this blog.
The Tennessean story says the paper is looking for Silverman's replacement. He's been the paper's editor for nearly five years.
Earlier: Silverman says Nashville's journalism will improve after the loss of 20 newsroom jobs. Plus: He wins a Ben Bradlee editor's award.
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He starts in mid-September.
Silverman's first tour at Corporate was in his role as a prime architect of News 2000, a quality control campaign launched in mid-1992 under Phil Currie, who ran the News Department at the time.
Kate Marymont is now chief of the department, which has broad oversight of the editorial content and staffing at virtually all the 82 U.S. newspapers. The Tennessean doesn't say whether Silverman will report to Marymont, however.
It's my understanding that Silverman was involved in developing the latest quality control campaign, dubbed passion topics on this blog.
The Tennessean story says the paper is looking for Silverman's replacement. He's been the paper's editor for nearly five years.
Earlier: Silverman says Nashville's journalism will improve after the loss of 20 newsroom jobs. Plus: He wins a Ben Bradlee editor's award.
Mark never really moved to Nashville. He only rented an apartment in Nashville, never really moving here for good. He kept his house in suburban Virginia/DC area when he took the editor job and flew home on many/most weekends. His wife never moved here, either.
ReplyDeleteIn fact: Neither the publisher (Florida), nor the editor, nor the managing editor (New York) actually own a house here. All of them keep their spouses and mortgages at their last Gannett assignments and rented apartments here.
I wonder where the next person they ship in here will be from? Likely someone who never set foot in the Middle Tennessee area before, from some far-flung Gannett location. That's if they actually fill the job.
The timing on this seems odd.
ReplyDeletePublisher Carol Hudler says the paper is still looking for Silverman's replacement. Meanwhile, he starts in his new job in as little as two weeks.
I wonder why they didn't announce his promotion and his replacement at the same time? What's the hurry here?
Yeah, odd. Moves at that level are usually well coordinated -- one departs and another arrives, with both announced at the same time.
ReplyDeleteIt makes sense Silverman would be involved in passion topics -- it's a repackaging of some elements of News 2000.
Maybe the crystal palace has a psych ward and he gets to be the first inpatient executive.
ReplyDeleteStaffers at the paper are celebrating.
ReplyDeleteME will become EE. ME job will be eliminated as result. Top management will continue to be from afar and have a disconnect with the market. It's the Gannett Way.
ReplyDeleteThe is, in Nashville, a huge sigh. Huge enough to rival the mighty winds of his pontificating .. I am told.
ReplyDeleteHaving met the man and found that the only person impressed by him was ... him, I cannot imagine how thrilled they are in Opryland that he is gone.
But sadly, don't we all know that he will be replaced by one of the standby parachuted-in publisher/and or editor types that Gannett rotates across America doing damage where ever they go? Of course they will.
I bet I can name "her" already... can't you?
How many newsroom jobs were eliminated to achieve the savings to pay for Silverman's new position, only so he can turn around and tell editors how to do a better job with fewer newsroom staffers?
ReplyDeleteAs bad as Silverman has been everywhere, don't expect any better newsroom leadership from his replacement. That certainly was not the pattern elsewhere. And that big fancy news initiative he's going to lead - it will be be NEWS 2000 repackaged. Expect a pyramid. Same shit, different year.
ReplyDeleteWe called him Satan during his reign of terror in Detroit. He was cruel to the staff and tone deaf to what constituted news in Detroit. Those of us who survived him in Detroit think of Dean Singleton as our liberator, if you can imagine that.
ReplyDeleteWhat's going on with Meg Downey? Of course, EE and ME jobs will be consolidated because there are so few newsies left to supervise. Silverman kept his house and his wife stashed in northern Virginia. Perfect move back to Crystal Palace. Anyone who has dealt with him knows he is a baseball bat wielding bully with a bad temper He can also be a flirt, resulting in stomach churning disgust. Hatchet man to the core. May the misery he has inflicted come back to him. Then again, he has no soul.
ReplyDeleteI say Good Riddance to him. I pity him really. never seen someone so pompous and self absorbed.
ReplyDeleteSilverman wasn't just called Satan in Detroit. He also had a reign of terror in Nashville, that thankfully is now ending. The guy's rages are legendary within the company, yet Gannett still keeps rewarding him for his bullying. It's a wonder that the company hasn't been forced to shell out big bucks because of him. But give it time. He's a lawsuit waiting to happen.
ReplyDeleteNo way Silverman and Marymont can co-exist in same department.
ReplyDeleteAs usual, the folks at the metros care only about themselves. What about the torture that's about to be inflicted on us out in the field once he begins marking up our papers?
ReplyDeleteOn a Nashville side note...
ReplyDeleteI find it appalling how management is handling the integration of the new Gannett Client Solutions team here. The team was given the "room" formerly occupied by Ad Services. That space was summarily stripped and gutted, then painted in soothing shades of blue with a fancy finish on the concrete floor that was underneath the nasty carpet. And then there are the fancy new desks and chairs.
The space includes a pretty little carpeted circle with nice leather (look) chairs spread around it, I suppose so that they can brainstorm big ideas ... though the creative folks in Ad Services were never afforded such niceties. Nor were they ever allowed to entertain such silly notions as designing work spaces with the principles of feng shui. For years the mantra has been: you'll sit where we put you, you will work in the crappy surroundings that we give you, and you will like it.
Meanwhile, the workhorses in the rest of the Advertising department -- who have slugged away and worked their asses off for years at this site -- continue to sit in ratty and raggy old cubicles with chairs that are stained from years of use and arm rests that have all but worn off.
I'm not sure whether management simply doesn't care or just doesn't see how bad this looks and how it further has a negative impact on morale. Whichever the case, it is indeed a sad state of affairs to know that these are the people you work and help to make money. I, for one, cannot wait until my job offer comes, because I will be gone in a heartbeat.
"Those of us who survived him in Detroit think of Dean Singleton as our liberator, if you can imagine that."
ReplyDeleteI imagine that you're stupid if you truly believe that.
So, let me get this straight.. Mark, will be in charge of chair arraignment on the deck of Titanic?
ReplyDeleteWill Nashville go the way it has, taking the recommendations of corporate news for its next EE? Or will Hudler truly review people making a difference at other properties that are Gannett and non-Gannett to find the best editor for Tennessee. She could pull a recently departed publisher with editorial background - or two - into the candidacy. She could look at who is an up and comer. Wonder if Randy Hammer will be a choice. How about Skip Hidlay or Andrew Oppmann? Another good choice? Go get Caesar Andrews.
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ReplyDeleteHey, 10:20: You don't know what you're talking about here. Silverman was so obnoxious to so many people in Detroit that Singleton and his crew were a major improvement. People at the Detroit News felt liberated because Silverman's Gannett boot was no longer on their necks.
ReplyDeleteSilverman better be saving his Big G blood money. He's fast becoming a miserable old man with no friends. Just like the old crew (now retired) he worked with during his last tour at HQ.
ReplyDelete11:08 - never worked with Hammer or Oppman, but Caesar Andrews is a man with a conscience who got the hell out of Gannett with a decent buyout while he could.
ReplyDelete@11:17 I have a life and a clue. It is the management of this company that is clueless
ReplyDelete11:44, you must be thinking of your crack dealer's boot if you think Lean Dean is a savior.
ReplyDeleteStupidity is unappealing, sport.
Hammer? Sued for sloppy editing in Florida and sloppy management in North Carolina? That does sound like Silverman, though. And the corporation certainly promotes what it likes.
ReplyDelete12:42, snotty sarcasm doesn't elevate you. Having been around Singleton, I can understand the context of that comment. In his own, Dean-like way, he loves newspapers.
ReplyDeleteIf folks still at G A N N E T T haven't caught on yet, this business of developing compelling news with smaller staffs must be ringing some bells!
ReplyDeleteAre the staffs small enough? From corporate's view, probably not. They will get smaller as consolidations continue and revenues slide ever downward.
Good luck everyone!
9:09 is right...which means that based on online and digital revenue, news sites are going to be staffed and be about as crappy at most Patch sites.
ReplyDeleteBTW, expect Patch to go down the tubes this year when AOL gets sold.
Hammer works for Carol Hudler as a publisher in the South Group, and worked in Florida when she was head of the old SunCoast Group, so she knows his work. She saw him earn his chops during the Florida hurricanes and knows he can run a good newsroom. But the aforementioned legal fun in North Carolina might be a challenge, however. His my-way-or-the-highway approach ain't as bad as Silverman, but it might not be the breath of fresh air they need.
ReplyDeleteAndrews is a class act and a great guy. Stacks of great awards and honors. However, he's living a good life in academia these days and it would be hard to imagine him subjecting himself to the grind again. Plus, that would be three editors in a row from Detroit for poor old Nashville.
Oppmann, who also escaped to academia, left Gannett because he didn't want to move away from Middle Tennessee. He's now running communications for Middle Tennessee State University and teaches journalism there. He's got heart, gets digital and least he's local and grew up near Nashville. He left on good terms with Hudler (he was mentioned favorably in the stories they did on the new GMs in Clarksville and Murfreesboro). But all the cutting Hudler made him do tore him up -- would he be willing to come back for more?
Hidley is a hard-driving Yankee and an AP man at heart. Did good work under trying circumstances in New Jersey and, like Oppmann, was among the first class of Gannett's old Leadership Academy (publisher school). He may be also be too blunt for a post-Silverman glasnost. Also not sure if he burned any bridges with Gannett leaving for Kansas -- or, like Andrews and Oppmann, if he would be willing endure a return to the Borg.
Meg Downey deserves the first look and the front-runner status. She's was editor of the year many times before joining The Tennessean and had to endure working for Silverman. Well respected by the newsroom and, as ME, deserves a shot at the big chair. Her health has been a concern, however. And, after four years, she's yet to move the husband down to Tennessee or sell the house in New York; would she plant such roots if she got the big job?
Anyone curious why The Tennessean broke the news about Silverman's departure online but didn't put anything about it in today's paper?
ReplyDelete@9:20
ReplyDelete"never seen someone so pompous and self absorbed."
I guess this means you have never met the EE in Pensacola.
As to why so few people are buying houses and so many are renting -- does it occur to anyone that many of these people's mortgages, especially if they bought between 2003-2007, might be underwater?
ReplyDelete@4:20, that might be true now, but back when Mark and Meg moved to Nashville, corporate was still doing full relo packages. Both got here before the bubble burst. In Mark's case, his house in Virginia went up in value for months after his arrival here. If Gannett would have bought it, as was once SOP back then, he would have pocketed a fortune. Simply put, he didn't want to put down roots. In Meg's case, her husband is an attorney and they didn't want to move his practice or get out of their house.
ReplyDeleteYou could argue now, however, that the bubble burst would make it difficult.
However, in both cases, their spouses stayed behind. Same for the publisher, whose husband remains in their Florida estate.
@4:35, In the Florida case, I can tell you that house isn't worth nearly what they paid for it so a Gannett buyout wouldn't have mattered.
ReplyDeleteI rent because my house is under water. No choice
ReplyDeleteBeryl Love to Nashville?
ReplyDeleteNo, Beryl just got established in Reno and, with the new publisher there, the time ain't right. Besides, let's all get real here: Hudler is either going to hire Meg (and eliminate the ME job or a senior editor job) or tap someone she doesn't have to pay to move there. I also predict she will leave the job open until the end of the year (and reap the salary savings!). She's not going to pay $50k-plus to move Beryl from Nevada, plus whatever relo we now give.
ReplyDeleteWhy even mention those who have left for academia? what are the chances any of them coming back?
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to believe that one could spend a lifetime with a company and be so despised for one's actions. It's sad really. When he goes there will be applause but for all the wrong reasons. That is a wasted life and career with a future filled with regret.
ReplyDelete10:48, thanks for excellent analysis. Hope you post more often. And 10:12, a lot of academia jobs are low paying or semester/yearlong "visiting" endowed chairs, so you become a journeyman (moving a lot) to make a living. The only way to stability in most instances is to get a Ph.D. and into a tenure-track position, something very hard for most newsroom pros. Academia is as vicious as congressional politics and moves at a glacial pace. On the other hand, some editors saved the best they could while making $150K-plus a year salaries and are willing to accept a lower standard of living in order to feel like decent human beings again. Big G and nearly about all other dying newspaper companies own and rot your soul as you move up the ranks.
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ReplyDeleteAnyone know who's a front runner now? They are interviewing. Who are the contenders?
ReplyDelete