AJC buyout list official – 74 to leave
April 13, 2009 at 2:34 pm by Scott Henry in News
Despite the presence of some very well-informed rumors, I’d held off running the list of editorial staffers who were presumed to be taking the latest round of newsroom buyouts at the AJC. Frankly, I expected Editor Julia Wallace to release the official list at any moment, and I didn’t want to post any erroneous information in the meantime. Well, the list of 74 names was released a short while ago and, sure enough, it contains many familiar bylines. (Full list after jump.)
Star lifestyle writer Jim Auchmutey will be leaving. So will star war correspondent Moni Basu — perhaps not surprising since the AJC’s days of sending reporters abroad seems to be over. The paper also appears to be clearing house of its arts critics: visual arts critic Cathy Fox, theater critic Wendell Brock and classical music critic Pierre Ruhe, as well as Sonia Murray, who writes about the hip-hop scene.
But the buyouts haven’t been the only news from Marietta Street in the past few days. On Friday, the newspaper eliminated its news art department — the folks who produced the graphics and illustrations that accompany articles — laying off the four remaining employees. Also receiving pink slips was the entire news research staff, which likewise included four or five people. Oddly, however, we understand that reporters have not yet been told they no longer have a research department.
But AJC staffers are most outraged by the surprise firing of newsroom assistant Mark Slockett, who had worked at the paper more than 30 years. I’m told Slockett had struggled over whether to take the buyout, but had ultimately decided against doing so because he was only a few months away from being eligible to receive full retirement benefits. I’m trying to verify this information, but I’ve already spoken to more than one newsroom employee angry over the apparent shoddy treatment of Slockett.
“This had always been a company that took care of its employees,” one staffer told me who asked not to be named. “But this seems to be an indication that they don’t care anymore.”
Mid-morning today, Wallace sent a message to staff which began: “This will be a busy week, with new assignments and training.” She went on to explain that the new organizational chart would be revealed to the rank and file on Tuesday, but that the 30 or so supervisors would get their marching orders today. Seeing as there are currently twice that many supervisors, it’s a good bet that many of them will be reassigned to writing positions or made copy editors. Wallace concedes that some people are likely to be less than excited about their new job. “Not every move will be a perfect fit,” she says, asking folks to keep an open mind.
OK, here’s the full list of newsroom staffers who took the buyout. We’ve matched them with an inexact description of their current job in cases where we know it. Please let us know if any information is incorrect.
Rich Addicks – photographer
Nancy Albritton – city editor
Jim Auchmutey – news feature reporter
Kevin Austin – ajc.com editor
Moni Basu – news feature reporter
Wendell Brock – theater critic
Tasgola Bruner – online producer
Celine Bufkin – photo editor
Mary Civille
Brenda Coglianese
Larry Conley – DeKalb bureau chief
Holly Crenshaw – obit writer
Michael Dabrowa – graphics
David Deckert – archives manager
Lea Donosky – strategic manager, ajc.com
Kevin Duffy – business reporter
Gerdeen Dyer – copy editor
Joe Earle – editor
Sandy Eckstein – feature writer
Ginny Everett – director of news research
Louis Favorite – photographer
Ron Feinberg – Sunday features editor
Vivian Flagg
Cathy Fox – visual art critic
Clark Freeman – copy editor
Phil Gast – news manager, ajc.com
Steve Harvey – digital ajc.com
Robin Henry – managing editor, ajc.com
John Hollis – Southside reporter
Joey Ivansco – photographer
Drew Jubera – features reporter
Phil Kloer – features reporter
Mike Knobler – Thrashers reporter
Montse Knowlton – feature writer
Pat Koester
Connie Lawson – circulation librarian
George Leite
Donna Lewis – news reporter
Rachel Lister – copy editor
Derrick Mahone – news reporter
Andy Miller – healthcare reporter
Terence Moore – sports columnist
Sonia Murray – hip-hop reporter
Doug Nurse – North Fulton reporter
Thomas Oliver – business columnist
Evelyn Ortega – features design desk manager
Michael Pearson – Gwinnett business reporter
Kay Powell – Cobb communities reporter
John Reiter – calendar editor
Susan Reu
Frank Rizzo – comics editor
Holly Roseberry – ajc.com editor
Pierre Ruhe – arts critic
Jennifer Ryan – news researcher
Chip Saye – sports writer
Paul Shea – metro news manager, ajc.com
Stacy Shelton – environmental reporter
David Simpson – DeKalb reporter
Ben Smith – news reporter
Jim Smith
Kim Smith – photographer
Lewis Sturm – systems editor
Ron Taylor – Channel Manager, AccessAtlanta
Jerome Thompson – graphics reporter
David Tulis – photo manager, ajc.com
Chuck Turlington – editor, Gwinnett
Melissa Turner – senior editor, Sunday
Steve Valk – Sunday metro editor
Omar Vega – art director
Reagan Walker – Sunday editor
Harold Weaver – producer, ajc.com
Gayle White – higher education reporter
Janine Williams
Schauna Wright – blog coordinator
(Photo by Joeff Davis)
April 13th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
oy vey! ATL, the land of Concrete and Crime is going to hell in a handbasket…
April 13th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
It’s official – this is the end of the AJC, y’all. The paper I remember is dead.
April 13th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Who’s left? What will be the end product?
They might as well shut down the paper?!
Unbelieveable!
April 13th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
That’s a pretty stunning list. I predict the AJC will be web-only by mid 2010
April 13th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
It is about time Terrence Moore got the axe. The guy added nothing but race baiting and alienated MANY AJC subscribers. Count me as one who would have kept my subscription had guys like Moore been canned years earlier.
Now let’s hope Sports Final follows suit and stops having him as a guest reporter.
April 13th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Can anybody say–
Death Spiral???
I guess from know on we’ll get out rumors, lies and half-truths from bloggers– its the new middle ages…
April 13th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Folks, thanks for the concern.
April 13th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
Mark Davis–I am quite glad that you are still with the paper. Feel the love, honey!!
April 13th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Mark, hang in there. This is extremely depressing. I hope your family is well.
April 13th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
Yet they kept Rich Eldredge the Peachbuzz writer… Hmmmm… I guess it is way more important to keep up with the coming and goings of Elton John and Jane Fonda than it is to have actual news stories in the AJC.
April 13th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Shit.
April 13th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
What a time of change. Looks like the AJC is on its way down the path of the Seattle P-I. Once-proud establishments of journalism are becoming glorified blogs. The new middle ages indeed.
April 13th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
As a news writer who often does less-serious reportage, I must stand up for Rich Eldredge. He’s easily the best Buzz-er the paper has had in the last 20 years, making the column wittier and more entertaining than it has any right to be. I think a society/celebrity update has a place in a metro daily, as long as it’s well-written.
April 13th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
Wow, losing Ben Smith and Stacy Shelton hurts. Both are great reporters.
But losing Larry Conley may actually improves the AJC’s coverage of DeKalb. Conley wilted like a flower whenever Vernon Jones confronted him.
April 13th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
As a former AJCer, the names on this list are simply staggering. I couldn’t believe it when I first saw it. However, I will say this:
1) There are still a tremendous number of excellent journalists staying at the paper, including the previous commentor, Mark Davis. It will be interesting to see how the AJC uses its remaining talent.
2) I’m with Scott: Rich Eldredge is great. Celebrity and society journalism is PART of the reason people pick up (or click on) a paper. Peach Buzz, combined with the excellent Social Butterfly column, covers an important aspect of Atlanta.
Just one ex-journalist’s opinion.
April 13th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
The remarks about Larry Conley and Rich Eldredge are unfair.
If newspapers really are dying, the online news sites that replace them should, in my opinion, try to adopt some traditional newspaper standards.
One would be a requirement that anyone seeking to post a comment on a news site must provide his or her (verifiable) real name.
Anonymous pot-shooters tend to make cartoon characters of their intended targets. They promote unfounded rumors as if they were true.
In my opinion (and I’m speaking for myself and not the company I work for), if you can’t put your name on the comments you post online, then they’re not worth publishing.
April 13th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
I grew up reading the Atlanta Journal. Throughout my college years, it was THE place to work when you graduated.
I’m watching it being dismantled as if the great journalists who’ve worked there and their legacies never existed.
This breaks my heart.
April 13th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
I agree that criticism about Rich Eldridge is unfair. The man is sharp, funny, and has a good sense of pop culture. Which is very much part of the news.
Ben Smith….I’ll miss you. I was a fan of yours back when you did the column with Duane Sanford. You were both spot on. I wish you well.
April 13th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
It’s not the news business, but rather the business model that needs a boost … and at http://www.hometowntimes.com we have found the balance between local advertising, social networking, and quality journalism. We need people like those listed here from the AJC to carry on the traditions and legacy of delivering news and advertising to their local communities.
We want to not only help, but also better understand what journalists, reporters, advertising salespersons are thinking when their thoughts drift to “what’s next for me?” Here at http://www.hometowntimes.com, we want to hear from people in, out, or soon to be out, or who want to be out of the established print/news outlets and are searching for a way to connect with those in their local communities – the people, the businesses, the events – the issues of local importance that appear to be less and less covered by the incumbent media outlets. If we can help anyone in the industry in the Atlanta area, or you just want to share your thoughts, I welcome your input.
April 13th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
Jim Auchmutey? Oh, crap. I’m sure he’s got a couple of great Atlanta-related books in him, maybe this will give him the time.
April 13th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
Seems like Ben Smith points out the exact reason the newspaper business is dying. Blogging is the future dude. If people want to do it anonymously, then that’s their prerogative. Everyone is reporting their version of the news. Besides, you act like the ajc never uses anonymous sources.
April 13th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
“In my opinion (and I’m speaking for myself and not the company I work for), if you can’t put your name on the comments you post online, then they’re not worth publishing.”
I obviously disagree
April 13th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
The AJC, like the rest of the industry, is waiting on the “bright idea” to be saved from themselves. No one has it. Should the newspaper industry get a bailout like cars and banks? Maybe, because like those industries, newspapers could see it coming and gave the Internet two big middle fingers instead. Now newspapers are the Internet’s bitch and the first (and seemingly only) people out are helpless writers. Where on this list are the people who actually make decisions about the (fiscal)future of the newspaper? Do they get to hang around and make more bad decisions that dig a deeper hole? Shaking my head.
April 13th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
What are they going to do with no graphics department. I mean, literally — who’s going to do the work? Are they just going to abandon all news graphics, or is the idea that they’ll make someone in .com do it?
I’m really asking … somebody tell me what they’re thinking, please, because it makes no sense.
April 13th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
I’ll speak out for the photojournalism as well. Rich and Louie are two of the best photographers at the AJC and it’s terrible to lose them.
Watching the newspaper industry die feels like losing a limb. The critics seem to come out and applaud but I can’t think of a more apathetic world than one that exists without daily print. Every time I flip past one of TV stations, I cringe. Even at death’s door, newspapers are far more in-depth than any of the muck that TV “journalists” dig up.
April 14th, 2009 at 7:20 am
Moni Basu’s biased, uninformed, and often flat-wrong coverage of the Iraq war resulted in the cancellation of my subscriptions at home and the three I took for the office. The AJC hasn’t been a reliable or useful source of hard news coverage for years, and its plight hardly upsets me.
I am sorry for the folks who make up most of this list as I’m sure they’ve dedicated themselves to gathering and reporting the news in a fair and even-handed fashion, but on the whole I say good riddance to bad rubbish.
April 14th, 2009 at 8:37 am
@BenSmith – “In my opinion (and I’m speaking for myself and not the company I work for), if you can’t put your name on the comments you post online, then they’re not worth publishing”
Absolutely! After all, no one knows who is behind GriftDrift and it made all the difference for Jayson Blair.
April 14th, 2009 at 9:04 am
@ Pleased in ATL: You were there in Iraq too? And have a real byline somewhere with your observations?
April 14th, 2009 at 9:09 am
What really scares me is the complete elimination of the news research department. The number and quality of hard-hitting investigative news stories has been declining for years and this will just about kill it. Newspapers have acted as the public’s watchmen, and with the drastic cuts to the AJC it is going to be open season for graft and corruption, all at a time when we need their watchful eye to be as keen as ever.
April 14th, 2009 at 10:08 am
goodness! are you guys going to mourn or use these forums to talk about ways to revive the industry! geez!
April 14th, 2009 at 10:48 am
Scanning down this astonishing list, I see so many of the people Doug Payne worked with, people who’ve been a part of the AJC for decades. Really sad… and scary. I wish you all well, including those of you still at the paper.
April 14th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Losing Evelyn Ortega and Omar Vega will be a blow to the creativity of the paper. Makes me truly sad for the future of print design.
April 14th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
The firing (that’s what it is) of Cathy Fox, Pierre Ruhe, and Wendell Brock leaves the paper with no serious arts coverage. The management had been cutting it back for years, but until now there were several articles a week by these three (and others, such as Auchmutey) which made the paper worth reading. And it was worth subscribing to the print edition, because the arts articles frequently didn’t show up on the online edition. With this decision, the AJC has lost me as a subscriber, and I’ve been one for over 25 years.
There are several proposals to save good local newspapers (micro payments, an internet fee, etc.), and we need to consider these, because good journalism (in whatever format) is essential to democracy and civilization. Really. But the people who make decisions at the AJC chose years ago (before the internet was a major factor) to dumb the paper down. Atlanta’s a major university city, with lots of highly educated, sophisticated readers who would be happy to pay for first rate local journalism; the AJC leaders decided that their target demographic was semi-literate, incurious, imbeciles. Oh well, to paraphrase the Greek proverb, “A fishwrapper rots from the head”.
April 14th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
if the management at the AJC were smart, they would have left the Journal and Constitution 2 separate papers with 2 sets of staff…. it might not have made sense financially then, but look at what it is now….. on the verge of becoming nothing…..
oh well… I could care less if the AJC folds…. it’s not like the AJC was informative anyways…. and plus maybe I will get less calls from the AJC and less college students knocking on the door…..
April 14th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Maybe I need to explain that the arts critics and the other folks on this list were not fired.
The newspaper management had indicated it planned to cut its payroll by about 90, so the people on the list decided to take a buyout rather than risk being laid off or reassigned to a crummy job.
After the buyouts were finalized, the AJC then laid off what remained of its graphics and news research departments.
As far as I know, no full-time reporters or editors were fired.
April 14th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
as an ex-AJC employee for almost a month now, folks… that ship is sinking! they’re hemorrhaging money and getting rid of the good people that make the place work while holding on to useless managers and directors. it’ll be a dead stick in short order. if they weren’t propped up by Cox Newspapers, they’d be dead already.
April 14th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
Mr. Henry, I appreciate your explanation, but it still appears that, in substance, they were fired. When you are given a choice between a buyout or “risk[-ing] being laid off or reassigned to a crummy job”, then you have to calculate the odds of what will happen if you decline the buyout. They seem to have concluded that it was “either take this offer, or you will be laid off (or reassigned to covering fluff).” If any of the arts reporters felt that the AJC was seriously committed to arts journalism, they probably would have stayed.
April 15th, 2009 at 1:10 am
Boy, I’m sorry to see these folks lose their jobs. It happened to me a few months ago, and I know it’s rough.
As much as I enjoy free information on the internet, I’ve never understood why local news operations made their stuff available, especially to aggregators. If they can’t find a way to charge for their goods, I can’t see how they’ll survive.
And if the newspaper business disappears, it will have a fundamental effect on our democracy. It’s human nature to lie, steal and cheat. Without newspapers to help keep our politicians and leaders honest, who will?
April 15th, 2009 at 8:48 am
this is bad news all around. thanks for getting the word out. but CL’s characterization of sonia murray as a “hip-hop reporter” is narrow-minded. sonia grew up in atlanta and her commentary on a wide variety of music genres (including hip-hop, R&B, soul…) and personalities for the AJC said a lot about who we are as atlantans and music lovers. she will be missed!
April 15th, 2009 at 9:42 am
This is terribly sad, both for the people who have lost their jobs and for the city. I’m a former AJC reporter (left about 10 years ago) but one thing I thought the AJC did very well was capture what was going on in the city. Whatever its faults with investigative or watchdog pieces, for many years it reflected what people in Atlanta were talking about, whether it was sports, the arts, politics, education, restaurants, development, or whatever. More than anything else, that’s what seems to have been slipping in recent years (or, I guess, maybe I’ve grown more out of tune) and what has made it seem less essential, even though I still read it every day. I see fewer and fewer of the stories that interest me (and, because they have lost so many reporters in recent years, there appears to be much less time for enterprise) and more and more stories that are one-offs. I shudder to think what will happen without people like Cathy Fox or Doug Nurse or Stacy Shelton or Sonia Murray or Gayle White or Joe Earle. Maybe it’s a reflection of our divisiveness as a society, but I believe the AJC used to capture our common ground. I’m afraid we’ve lost that now.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:52 am
The Atlanta papers the last 25 years lacked a soul. Like Gannett, they sold it when they married Wall Street. Now there’s an ugly divorce. And as always, the children (the rank-and-file employees) are being hurt the worst. I know from experience, as a former employee at both companies.
There is an upside, though. Newspaper conglomerates, like Rome, will collapse, and smaller more independent kingdoms will rise, where the “children” will again flourish.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:59 am
Ben: I know you’re a good reporter but you’ve demonstrated here the arrogance of traditional journalists and why they’re failing. First, former employees who have interesting things to say about the AJC MUST remain anonymous on this site because the company issued a gag order against making public comments — at a cost of losing separation benefits. Why do you want to supress their opinion when this is the only way the community can find out what’s going on at their newspaper? Second, those who have successfully moved onto other careers may not want their present employers see them griping about a past employer in a public forum. Third, you like many journalists, are being a scold to tell people how to order their world to conform to your specification when you must know your scolding won’t change any behavior. Face it: people post anonymously and much of what they say is wrong/hurtful. But this is the way of the world. You’re petulant scolding isn’t going to change that. Now that you’ve posted that comment twice on forums I’ve read, let me speak for everyone: We don’t care if you don’t want us to post anonymously.
I think Ben’s comment illustrates why newspapers are struggling. They sought out to be crusading authors of a social agenda (lib/neo-con, doesn’t matter) rather than focusing narrowly upon their mission of presenting the daily news. Cover the basics — public meetings, elections, arrests and major incidents at a local level. Gather ALL minor details and build a database. After one year you’d have a trove of data worth millions. Dole it out sparingly and at a high price. But newspapers spent 0 dollars on this over the last 20 years when they should have been updating their business models, leveraging technology and hiring workers with 21st Century professional skills. I feel bad for all these employees but their employer is a bad business being (rightly) run into the ground. It’s a damned joke!
I absolutely don’t understand how the folks at the top have held onto their jobs but oh well. Hopefully their turn is coming and we will get to see how THEY compete after ruining this business.
April 15th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
You’re right AZ, it makes sense for a former AJC reporter still getting a paycheck to post anonymously. What’s your excuse?
April 15th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Because, as I mentioned, I don’t care if remaining anonymous upsets you. I enjoy following and contributing to a discussion about one of my abiding interests. Thanks for your participation.
April 15th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
I don’t care if you remain anonymous or not. I just think people should be willing to stand behind what they say.
April 15th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
All this talk about the content of newspapers ignores the simple fact that they are failing as a business model. Millions of people rely on the work of newspapers’ professional journalists every day — have you seen the numbers for ajc.com or nytimes.com? Not to mention the aggregators.
April 15th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
Would someone please tell me how Julia Wallace keeps her job overseeing one of the most conspicuous business failures in Atlanta history? I mean, at least they could hire three or four reporters (five, ten?) on her salary and provide the readers with some additional reportage while the ship plows straight on to the iceberg. It’s not like you need someone steering the boat at this point. How in the hell does she have any credibility to tell anyone there what to do? I’d laugh in her face if she tried to tell me a damn thing — she is a dismal failure!! “Or what, you’ll fire me? … You let all my co-workers go, tripled my workload, give no raises, bonuses… As if…” Well, they got rid of Cynthia Tucker which I thought would never happen so maybe Julia’s next.
Good luck, folks. No one will read from now on. Certainly won’t pay for that singular pleasure. Bring on something else!
Sorry I didn’t sign my name but I used to be a journo there. It pains me to see good people suffer but that place REALLY sucked, especially in the last few years. Sucked leathery desert donkey balls. But I don’t need no problems with those folks no matter how irrelevant they are. So I’ll sit quietly in the corner, minding my own business.
And why isn’t the AJC’s flak giving us the paper’s official position on this thread?
April 15th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
one of the gems of the ajc newsroom
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nisaasokan/3282314613/
mark slockett!
-from yr friendly former news resarcher
February 9th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
Thank you for your information (;