It's been six-plus months since I left the last newspaper I worked at for Granite Publications, one of three people downsized as the paper planned a switch from semiweekly to weekly publication.
I'm not one to talk too much out of school, but other former editors and publishers there, in some cases even before ever starting there, talked about the "Granite gossip," or "Granite gallop," or similar.
In the case of my previous paper, it was, in my opinion, a series of bad publisher hiring (and firing) decisions that led to that point.
The publisher who was there when Granite bought the paper was let go before I got there. I've heard various versions of why. As best as I can guess, steering between Scylla and Charybdis, is that he was adamantly resistant to pages being built at Granite's mini-Gatehouse pagination hub. (And, speaking of Gatehouse, this, as part of this story.) That was probably in part about editorial control and in part about finances, as he would already have known how he was being build for Granite's hubbed graphic art services.
(Newspaper companies are like insurance companies. Everybody's independently incorporated, but with incorporation structured in such a way that you're required to follow most home office dictates while most burden of blame, failure, etc., is on your own local publishing shoulders. The independent incorporation, as well as independently incorporating graphics and pagination services, is also done for tax reasons.)
The company then hired someone without one day of newspaper experience to be a publisher-in-training and shuffled other staff around, thorough pissing off the then-senior ad salesperson.
That soon enough didn't work out. They then hired someone with previous publishing experience, who was nice enough personally, and with some ideas, but just ... not a go-getter, etc.
They then canned him without a replacement lined up. That's when my arm was broken due to an on the job accident caused by another driver. I appreciate corporate filling out workman's comp's initial claims papers for me — even if it was in part due to other worries. I less appreciated, with an in-and-out interim publisher there, nobody from corporate springing for flowers, a get-well card or two, etc.
No, I resented it. And still do. The owner had done a couple of other good things in the past, but this sets the needle back to zero.
They then finally hired the person they should have hired three years ago, if they were determined to can the publisher in place at the time of purchase. (BUT ... more on other aspects of his background in another piece.)
The biggest problem, in my opinion, is that the owner, who is the daughter of the founding owner, bought this paper on nostalgia. It was the first one her dad, the founding owner, owned, though later selling it. It was the town where she grew up. Nostalgia as a basis for financial decisions in general and business decisions in particular is usually not that smart.
On the resentment side, add to that my downsizing, and them not trying to find room for me, or immediately moving me to the front of the line, or even officially automatically considering me for relevant positions — they had two publishers' spots open, both of which involved a fair degree of selling, but not sales-only. It would have been an adjustment, but, it was certainly doable.
True, they have offered me, when they sold the company paper I worked at before, to give me the open editorial job at their nearest paper, and keep the same rate of pay for me, which was more than the normal salary for that slot. I wound up, because they asked, pinch-hitting at the Center paper for three weeks, and then asked if we could make this permanent. It was yet more money, but it did them a big favor, too.
Since then, Granite has split, as well, with founder Jim Chionsini hiving off the majority of papers after taking over again as boss man from daughter Brandi, and giving her a few that I think he wanted to axe.
At a paper now, a daily, that also does a magazine, I have to say that her idea for magazines in general wasn't all bad — but it was far from all good.
First of all, the rigidity of saying that such a magazine should have the same theme, issue after issue, is stupid. Sorry, Brandi, but no other word for it. (Being at a place that has a magazine, but does it like an actual magazine, I have personal reasons to say that.)
Second, your expectations should have been tapered back. Most your newspapers, a 32-page mag every quarter was heavy enough lifting. Actually, 32 pages 3x a year would be about right for the more rural papers. (I know that 24 pages quarterly would be the same number, but, a 24-page magazine would be its own stupidity.)
Third, without paywalls, you're still floundering in other ways.
Fourth, as I look at publisher hires at multiple papers ... erk???
==
Update: Since this has been posted, Big Jim Chionsini sold Center, and the Mount Pleasant paper that a previous publisher there wrecked, to Moser Community Media.
No comments:
Post a Comment