Norwich | Laid-off reporter rips Bulletin job cuts

James Craven worked for Connecticut's Norwich Bulletin, which Gannett sold to GateHouse Media in 2007. Now, he's written a blog post on the paper's website headlined, "Goodbye Norwich," where he tears into GateHouse management for deciding "to cannibalize the newspaper."

Take that! Craven wrote that the "most recently ordered layoffs will sap the Bulletin of nearly 20% of its newsroom staff. That will, of course, allow the president of Gatehouse Media to follow up on his $750,000 bonus to himself with an equally staggering and incongruous gratuity this year. Merry Christmas Mr. President."

And guess what? The newspaper pulled his post.

But media blogger Dan Kennedy has the full story today on what happened next.

A little history
In May 2007, Gannett sold four newspapers to GateHouse for $410 million: the Norwich Bulletin, the Rockford Register Star in Illinois, the Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y., and The Herald-Dispatch in Huntington, West Va.

Earlier: Laid-off N.J. sports editor sneaks a column into print that bashes Gannett. And: In GateHouse vs. GCI, damning GCI with faint praise.

Gannett vs. GateHouse: Damning with faint praise

"I'd work for Gannett before I'd work for GateHouse again." 

-- reader seanwardwell, in a comment posted to a Romenesko blog story about GateHouse Media CEO Mike Reed's memo yesterday, updating employees on efforts to stabilize the company's finances. In May 2007, Gannett sold four newspapers to GateHouse for $410 million: the Norwich Bulletin in Connecticut, the Rockford Register Star in Illinois, the Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y., and The Herald-Dispatch in Huntington, West Va.

Jackson, Miss. | Leslie Hurst, and a wayward heart

Worried The Clarion-Ledger has lost touch with Jackson, Miss., Publisher Leslie Hurst established 10 strategic goals for her staff. Among them: "Reconnect with our readers, advertisers and our communities, demonstrating that we haven't lost our community heart."

Hurst

Indeed, only last week, Hurst directed her employees -- shaken by a new round of layoffs -- to seek consolation in a re-reading of those goals.

Her admonition to reconnect isn't new, of course. In December, when Corporate promoted her from Lafayette, La., she told the Jackson daily: "We need to know the people we serve and understand what is on their minds."

Yet, Hurst didn't arrive with a reputation for community outreach. "On one of her first days in Lafayette," a former employee there told The Independent Weekly, "she told us that she would not speak to the public, would not answer e-mails, and if called would not pick up the phone. She also will not answer voice mails."

Hurst has passed through a lot of communities. She's been president and publisher of seven Gannett newspapers -- two simultaneously -- in just 14 years. The cities and years she was appointed:

• 1996: Hattiesburg American in Mississippi 
• 2000: The Herald-Dispatch, Huntington, W. Va. 
• 2003: The Idaho Statesman, Boise 
• 2005: Lansing State Journal in Michigan 
• 2007: Daily Advertiser in Lafayette, and the Daily World in Opelousas, La. 
• 2010: Jackson

Long-time Gannett executive Bottorf dies at 76

Richard M. Bottorf, who began his newspaper career at Gannett in Rochester, N.Y., worked for four years as vice president of operations at Corporate in Virginia. He served as circulation director at Rochester, before being appointed publisher of Vermont's Burlington Free Press. He retired in 1994 as publisher of Connecticut's Norwich Bulletin.

Bottorf died Wednesday at Thompson Hospital in Victor, N.Y., the Freep reported today. He was 76.

A sidebar
GCI sold the Bulletin, plus Illinois' Rockford Register Star; New York's Observer-Dispatch in Utica, and The Herald-Dispatch in Huntington, West Va., to GateHouse Media in May 2007 for $410 million.

Gannett names new pub, GM and executive editor

In a domino-like series of newspaper appointments, Gannett has reached outside the company for a new publisher in Montgomery, Ala.; named a new general manager in Muncie, Ind., and appointed a new executive editor in Cherry Hill, N.J., according to a statement just issued by Corporate.

Montgomery: Sam Martin (left), senior vice president and chief advertising officer for The Boston Globe, was named chief executive of the Montgomery Advertiser.

Martin previously worked for Gannett as senior vice president of marketing at The Cincinnati Enquirer, from 1999-2002, and advertising director at The News Journal in Wilmington, Del., from 1993-1999. He replaces Cheryl Lindus, who had been publisher since 2008.

Martin is moving to a newspaper with a considerably smaller readership. The Globe's circulation is about 230,000 daily, and 379,000 on Sunday, according to the latest ABC figures, as of March 31. Montgomery's is 35,827 daily, and 44,120 on Sunday.

Muncie: Lindus (left) becomes general manager at The Star-Press, a position that in name suggests a step down. The Muncie paper's circulation is 23,721 daily, and 28,932 Sunday.

Before Montgomery, Lindus was advertising director at Gannett's Springfield News-Leader in Missouri, and at The Herald-Dispatch in Huntington, West Virginia. (Gannett sold the Herald-Dispatch to GateHouse Media in 2007.) Earlier, Lindus held other advertising jobs at the Star Press. She replaces Gene Williams, the Star Press's GM and executive editor.

Cherry Hill: Williams was named executive editor of the Courier-Post, replacing Everett Mitchell, whose late-March departure has never been publicly explained. In Muncie, Williams had been GM since the middle of last year, and executive editor since joining that paper in 2007.

The Courier-Post's circulation: 51,889, Monday-Friday; 59,311 on Saturday, and 67,485 on Sunday, ABC says.

Earlier: Ex-editor in Montgomery claims unpaid overtime in lawsuit

[Photos: Advertiser]

New feature! Puzzling spotlight on random exec

First in an extremely sporadic, very occasional-at-best series.

Hurst

Leslie Hurst has been president and publisher of The Daily Advertiser in Lafayette, La., and the Daily World in nearby Opelousas, since May 2007. At that time, she also became vice president of the Sun Coast Group, supervising papers across Louisiana. Previously, Hurst had been president and publisher of Michigan's Lansing State Journal, and group vice president of the Midwest Newspaper Group.

The Climb

She started in Gannett as head of market development in Florida at the Pensacola News Journal and the Fort Myers News-Press. Then, she was named president and publisher as follows:

• 1996: Hattiesburg American in Mississippi
  
• 2000: The Herald-Dispatch, Huntington, W. Va.
  
• 2003: The Idaho Statesman, Boise
  
• 2005: Lansing State Journal
  
• 2007: Lafayette

The Quotes

"Leslie has a proven record in every job she has done for Gannett and I am pleased Louisiana is getting such a terrific manager," newspaper division chief Sue Clark-Johnson is quoted saying (a bit woodenly) in the official statement when Corporate sent Hurst to Lafayette.

"I feel like I'm coming home," Hurst told the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association, around that time. "I really love Louisiana culture, and I missed it when I left."

The Clip
The Independent Weekly in Lafayette published a fierce takedown on Jan. 20. In "Chain Reaction,'' the local weekly said, "Corporate newspaper giant Gannett has ransacked The Daily Advertiser, one of its most lucrative newspapers. And every penny of profit squeezed out of the daily has been wired straight to its Virginia headquarters."

Please post what I anticipate may be expressions of bafflement, outrage, and arch remarks in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green rail, upper right.

Editor to editors: Video is 'time-consuming'

Herald-Dispatch Executive Editor Ed Dawson offered an "editor's view" on video training in August 2006, when Corporate rolled out its video-training program in a series of News Watch articles. From Dawson's piece: "Video can be time-consuming, so editors will need to make sure that staffers have time to do the projects and hone their skills."

That message didn't seem to get to every editor, based on all the comments rolling in on recent Gannett Blog posts about video production challenges -- here, here and here.

But maybe Dawson's advice is moot? Nine months after he wrote that, Gannett sold the Herald-Dispatch to GateHouse Media. (Was it something Dawson said?) Then, after just three months' ownership, Gatehouse sold the paper, to commercial printer and office supplies maker Champion Industries. Are your heads still spinning, former Gannettoids in Huntington, W. Va.?