Bummer
August 14, 2008 at 11:47 pm by Ken Edelstein in Inside CLI laid off two fine journalists Monday, and I must be honest with you that it seemed to me not the wisest business decision.
Like other media companies that have their roots in print, Creative Loafing finds itself in a harsh economic environment. Alt-weeklies like CL ought to be doing better than the big dailies, and I think we are. We’ve always operated more efficiently, and our readers are younger.
But we’re still in a tight spot. The economy’s down, so businesses are advertising less. Printing and transportation expenses have skyrocketed. And the bad thing about this particular downturn is that so much advertising is moving permanently from print to online, where it’s still difficult to make enough money. So management here, like at other papers, faces pressure to cut costs.
Any way you cut it, this is a difficult bind. The problem is that reducing the number of people writing stories makes it more difficult for us to build our audience online.
I guess that point of view is predictable coming from me, because I’m talking about our department. But, then again, everyone has their biases. The money guys at newspapers usually don’t come from an editorial background. It seems to me they find it easier than they should to cut the resources going into the creation of the very content we need to grow.
The journalists we lost Monday were two of our most experienced writers and editors. Senior editor Scott Freeman wrote recent cover stories on Brian Nichols and indigent defense, on a controversial alternative school in Atlanta, and on New Yorkers who hate living in Atlanta and visa-versa. He also ably edited our news section and mentored other writers.
Senior writer David Lee Simmons was for two years our arts and entertainment editor. More recently he’s written film reviews and cultural features, and he’s edited special sections. I hope you’ll still be able to see their bylines in the print edition and in Fresh Loaf but as occasional freelancers rather than full-time staff members.
Although it’s difficult to stomach these losses, I don’t want to give you the wrong impression: I’m still very confident that we’ll serve this community as well — or even better – than we ever have. We’re blessed with a corps of writers and editors who have the intelligence, passion and integrity to cover this city like no one else. But you’ll, of course, be the ultimate judge of that.
August 15th, 2008 at 9:01 am
The guys are in a better place now. If they’re lucky and smart, which they probably are, they’ll soon end-up at a media outlet with real visionaries running it. I hear they’re all over the Internets now.
August 15th, 2008 at 9:46 am
The loss of these two excellent writers is pretty severe, and the journalistic trends of downsizing and streamlining are very troublesome. The biggest consequence of releasing good writers and reducing input from freelancers is the loss of diversity of voice in your copy. Each individual, if they can write, brings a very unique perspective to their subject, and that is what has always made CL an interesting read, IMHO. When a small number of people are producing the vast majority of the copy, there is a tendency toward sameness that is very unsatisfying. I do not always agree with what other freelancers or staff writers say, but they usually say it in a way that makes me think. Where does the line between cost and quality finally dissipate, and can CL afford to lose more unique voices? Best wishes to David Lee and Scott, and I know the future will be good to them.
August 15th, 2008 at 11:25 am
Ken, thank you for being candid. I send Scott and David Lee my best wishes for their success as they move on with their lives. My heart aches for the demise of the profession in which I spent 30 years. Scott succeeded me as senior editor, so I know I would have been laid off if I had not left the business on my own. Today, I find that I spend much of my reading time online. Only there do I find the voices raised by people who are as angry as I am about what has happened to this country under Republican rule. The lies continue to pour out of the mainstream media. Sadly, the alternative press seems to have lost much of its capacity for outrage. That said, I wish you all the best in a very tough environment. Hang in there!