Fresh Loaf

Why am I not surprised that Sen. Saxby Chambliss’ response last week to a whiste-blower’s testimony about February’s deadly Savannah sugar plant fire was to harangue the whistle-blower?

Not surprised either that Chambliss received a $1,000 campaign contribution from the Imperial Sugar Co., which ran the plant so unsafely that OSHA lobbed an $8.8 million fine at the company. All told, Georgia’s senior senator has received $21,500 from the sugar industry in 2007-8 to fund his re-election campaign.

Thirteen employees died in the fire, which was caused by combustible sugar dust. Graham H. Graham, who was Imperial’s vice president of operations for all of 90 days before the fire, testified that he tried to get Imperial to clean up the plant, but: “I was told that my passion was extreme and I had to temper it.” (more…)

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In deference to the obsolete “inverted pyramid” style of news writing that all veteran journalists grew up with, I’ll start with the lede: 73 reporters, editors and other newsroom personnel at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution applied for the paper’s most recent buyout offer and all 73 were accepted.

We’re told the mood is pretty upbeat right now over at the Grey Lady of Marietta Street following a memo this morning from editor Julia Wallace announcing that, because the company’s workforce-reduction target was met, there’s no need for layoffs.

Understandably, the potential of a layoff had been a Sword of Damocles hanging over the newsroom for the past couple of weeks. The paper’s brass had said they wanted to shave the news staff by 58 – and only 58. Would enough people take the buyout?

We’d reported that business desk veteran Bill Hendrick and longtime business columnist Maria Saporta were early takers of the buyout, which offered two weeks of salary and benefits for every year of AJC employment. But it wasn’t until just before noon that AJC rank and file learned the good news that the staff-cutting is over – for now.

In fact, we’ve heard – although not had the opportunity to confirm – that some staffers might have been so worried about the prospect of being laid off that they applied for the buyout even though they didn’t want to leave the paper.

Wallace’s brief memo doesn’t explain why the honchos changed their minds and decided to let an extra 15 people go, but the safe guess is that they figured it would help postpone future trimming of the payroll. For the time being, the AJC will make do with a 335-member newsroom, down from a high point of nearly 500 before last summer’s buyout.

We’ll post more names of departing AJCers as we learn them. Feel free to share what you know.

(An earlier version of this post contained a stupid, brain-fart error of terminology brought to my attention by the first comment. Thanks.)

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— Andre Walker at Georgia Politics Unfiltered gives a rather tepid apology for failing to disclose he was working for the campaign of U.S. Rep David Scott, D-Atlanta, even as he was blogging about Scott’s race. Should he have made that disclosure from the beginning? Probably so, says Walker. But “probably” isn’t good enough. Isn’t his blog called Georgia Politics Unfiltered? Taking money under the table from a candidate you’re covering means the news is being filtered. And tainted.

— Uh-oh, he’s doing it again. Amy Morton at Georgia Women Vote says U.S. Senate candidate Vernon Jones has sent out another flier picturing him with Barack Obama. This one also includes photos of  former U.S. Senator Carol Moseley Braun and U.S. Sen. Edward Brooke III, D-Mass., who happens to be the former paramour of Barbara Walters. Obama wasn’t very happy the last time Jones tried to grab on to his coat-tails; this flier probably doesn’t remind voters of that.

— Speaking of the U.S. Senate, Blog For Democracy incumbent Saxby Chambliss received $10,000 in campaign contributions from U.S. Ted Stevens, D-AK, who, oops, is under federal indictment for corruption. Will Chambliss return the money?

— Jason Pye discusses Eric Johnson’s decision to end his tenure as the president pro tem of the state Senate so that he can run for lieutenant governor in 2010.

— At Tondee’s Tavern, Adrian posts predictions for Tuesday’s run-off and sees Jim Martin easily defeating Jones. What? You mean those Obama pics aren’t working?

— With Dunwoody creating a new city from scratch, there’s a move afoot to make it as green as possible. Sustainable Dunwoody says there’s already a shortage of public park space.

— Christa, one of the fine ladies at Pecanne Log, pokes some fun at the AJC for its awkward foray into Facebook.

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Longtime business columnist Maria Saporta is taking the AJC buyout, according to the Atlanta Press Club.

To my mind, this is a big blow to the paper. Saporta, who’s cultivated links with the business community for more than two decades and who’s dad was a well-known and well-liked Atlanta architect, understands the business, civic and political circles of this community like no one else at the AJC.

As I understand it, the AJC doesn’t have to accept her application for the buyout, but I suspect it will let her go.

Today’s the last day for employees who’ve worked at the paper for at least five years to apply for the buyout, as the AJC tries to reduce its edit and sales work force by 185 people. If there aren’t enough buyouts, the paper will likely resort to layoffs.

I’ll try to get more on this.

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— Ah, GriftDrift’s “Morning Wooten” means all is right with the world. Especially when he gets on a roll. Delicious.

— Vernon Jones and Jim Martin, who are in an increasingly combative run-off in the Democratic run-off for U.S. Senate, had an Internet debate Sunday. Listen to it here.

— Speaking of Mr. CEO, Amy Morton at Tondee’s Tavern reveals that Jones, a Democrat, gave $3,000 in 2004 to the Republican campaign of Mitchell Kaye in his run for a state House seat.

— The fine ladies over at Pecanne Log, find a gem on eBay and evidence that Andre 3000 aspires to be the Michael Stipe of Atlanta.

— Live Apartment Fire takes a break from television news to vent about upcoming changes at the AJC as revealed in the exclusive interview AJC editor Julia Wallace gave to CL editor Ken Edelstein last week.

— On Confessions of a Political Junkie, Eric shares a widely-circulated email that purports to be a report on Barack Obama blowing off regular troops during his trip to Iraq.

— What’s the point of having a blog if you can’t announce your upcoming nuptials? Jason Pye and his significant other are headed to Vegas. But they won’t be married by Elvis, which seems to defeat the purpose. Just sayin’.

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This may sound odd for an organization that prides itself on the free flow of ideas, but staffers who are leaving Atlanta Journal-Constitution are being required to sign an agreement that they won’t “disparage” the paper or its management once they leave, according to several AJC employees.

“I was pretty surprised to see that in there,” said one reporter who’s viewed the agreement.

The AJC didn’t care to discuss the stipulation. “As standard practice, we don’t disclose any specifics regarding legal agreements we have with employees,” says spokeswoman Jennifer Morrow.

But one employee said the severance agreement being presented to employees this month bars those who sign it from making “any disparaging or untrue statements about the company,” its subsidiaries or any other employee. The source indicated that the quote was lifted from the actual agreement (I’d love to get my hands on a copy; please e-mail me if you’d like to share one).

An employee who left during last year’s buyout confirmed that similar phrasing was in the severance agreement he signed last year. That employee said the agreement caused some former writers and editors to refrain from discussing newsroom management in media coverage last year, specifically an Atlanta Magazine profile of Editor Julia Wallace by former CL writer Steve Fennessy.

(more…)

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Longtime AJC reporter Bill Hendrick, 60, apparently is the first person in the newsroom to take the buyout offer announced last week by the paper. After I pestered him, he sent a note.

I can say this. I was told I was the first person from the news side to turn in my papers. I did so with great sadness, but with the feeling that I had no choice. I have no complaints, given the state of the industry, and understanding how business works. And I have no regrets. In my career I’ve been to every contintinent but Antartica and almost every state. It’s circumstance that’s turning the industry upside down. I’m sad, but not mad.

Hendrick’s byline has appeared in the AJC over the last 29 years. A series he wrote in August 1987 foreshadowed the stock market crash in October of that year and won two national awards. Among other things he covered health, science and business.

The paper is cutting its newsroom staff by 85. Editor Julia Wallace says 28 of those positions were vacant, which means 57 people actually will leave the staff. Another 104 positions are slated to be eliminated in sales.

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— Al Gore gives a speech that says we need to wean ourselves off petroleum in the next 10 years, and ATLMalcontent is skeptical. He thinks Gore is being rather hysterical.

— Gore is definitely against new off-shore oil drilling. But our governor, Sonny Perdue, thinks it’s a swell idea. Reporter-Cub gives us a reality check: The last time the U.S. had an energy crisis, the oil companies explored off the coast of Georgia and discovered that there’s no black gold/Texas tea out there.

— Folks in Dunwoody are pleased as punch to be Georgia’s newest city. At Heneghan’s Dunwoody Blog, John reports that 29 people turned out for a candidates training forum with the intention of running for mayor or city council. Leaders have also come up with a proposed vision statement for the new city.

— Doug Richards at Live Apartment Fire veers away from his customary posts on television news to talk about why the AJC still matters.

— Only 21 percent of Clayton County’s registered voters bothered to go to the polls last week, and Andre at Georgia Politics Unfiltered wonders WTF? Look for Thomas Wheatley’s insightful cover story on Clayton County in this week’s Loaf.

— Speaking of young Mr. Wheatley, the sirens at Pecanne Log can’t get enough of him. Another new post at Pecanne Log means another opportunity for a gratuitous shout-out to Wheatley. This time, they’ve found a personals site that features ads from wealthy men, including a group of of sugar daddies from Tucker. They’re already fighting over the one with the boat.

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The Project for Excellence in Journalism released a report today that may sound familiar to folks who’ve been watching the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s recent travails.

“Meet the American daily newspaper of 2008,” it begins. Then:

It has fewer pages than three years ago, the paper stock is thinner, and the stories are shorter. There is less foreign and national news, less space devoted to science, the arts, features and a range of specialized subjects. Business coverage is either packaged in an increasingly thin stand-alone section or collapsed into another part of the paper. The crossword puzzle has shrunk, the TV listings and stock tables may have disappeared, but coverage of some local issues has strengthened and investigative reporting remains highly valued. (more…)

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This morning’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution staff cuts are the second major rounds of cuts at the paper in less than two years — but this time they appear to be more painful.

In the spring of 2007, the paper offered buyouts to longtime staffers and reduced the newsroom workforce by around 80 people — to around 420. This time the reductions won’t be all voluntary and, we’re told, the terms are a bit less generous. (NOTE: Editor Julia Wallace just told me the buyout terms are the same as last year — except they’re available to more staffers. My interview with Wallace coming soon on Fresh Loaf.)

According to the press release: “The staff reductions, which will occur between August and October, will take place primarily in News and Advertising and will be accomplished through a combination of voluntary buyouts, involuntary layoffs and position eliminations.”

The company’s release says the AJC will reduce its full-time staff of 2,300 by 8 percent of the AJC’s 2,300 employees. That works out to 184 or so people.

It’s unclear what portion of that will come from the folks who actually gather information and present it to the public. Publisher John Mellott said the cuts will mainly come from advertising and editorial.
Not surprisingly, the paper’s print offerings will suffer:
* Better Health will be folded into Wednesday Living.

* Buyer’s Edge will move into Saturday Living.

* Discontinued local sections, including NorthSide, CityLife and NorthWest, as well as the daily Gwinnett news section.

No news on my earlier report that the brass was considering elimination of the Sunday @issue. We’ll be checking into that.

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The rumors are flying about this week’s anticipated shake-up at the AJC, but little is certain. What we’ve heard – though, we stress, have not been able to substantiate – is that the newspaper brass are looking to cut about 60 warm bodies from the newsroom and may pursue a program of buyouts.

We understand that at the Palm Beach Post, another Cox paper, 200 staffers were “invited” to apply for buyout packages in an effort to cut 130 positions – about one-third of the newsroom staff.

Last we checked, the AJC employed a newsroom staff of more than 400 reporters, editors, photographers, etc.

Supposedly, Editor Julia Wallace is expected to convene a staff meeting to announce the latest changes Wednesday or Thursday afternoon. We’ll be watching.

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Word is going around that something big will go down at the AJC next week – and nobody expects it to be a good something.

Cox honchos have spent recent weeks prepping the staff to brace for more cost-cutting at the paper. In late June, following a brutal round of layoffs at the Cox-owned Palm Beach Post in which a third(!) of the news staff was let go, AJC Publisher John Mellott issued a memo that offered little comfort:

“The economic factors affecting our business have worsened. The recession, the housing market downturn, as well as soaring newsprint and fuel costs have increased the urgency to reduce expenses. We will do so aggressively and in ways that make most sense for our market, our readers and our advertisers.”

It looks like the shit hits the fan next week. Managers have asked vacationing employees to provide contact information so they can be notified at the same time as the drudges in the newsroom. Everyone is expecting a bombshell to drop next week, but no one we spoke to seems to know whether it’ll be a SCUD missile, a neutron bomb or a Doomsday Machine.

(more…)

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Word among Atlanta Journal-Constitution staffers is that the paper’s Sunday @issue section will be eliminated later this summer or early in the fall.

In an e-mail response to my questions, AJC Editor Julia Wallace insisted that no decisions have been made about a long-planned remake of the Sunday paper and suggested that I “ignore the rumors.”

“We’re in the middle of a thorough review of our Sunday newspaper,” Wallace said, adding that the AJC’s been seeking reader feedback on possible changes.

Several newsroom rank-and-file members are under the impression that the decision has been made, however. They say @issue — the Sunday op-ed-and-essay section — will shrink and be folded into another part of the paper as part of the much-vaunted “AJC 2.0″ project.

(more…)

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AJC Publisher John Mellott attempted to calm the waters Thursday in an e-mail to staff members after a sister Cox family-owned paper announced big staff reductions earlier in the week. But Mellott also warned that more cuts are likely to hit the Journal-Constitution.

“The economic factors affecting our business have worsened,” Mellott wrote to the AJC staff. “The recession, the housing market downturn, as well as soaring newsprint and fuel costs have increased the urgency to reduce expenses. We will do so aggressively and in ways that make most sense for our market, our readers and our advertisers.”

Mellott’s e-mail followed an announcement that the Palm Beach Post, which along with the Atlanta paper is owned by Cox Newspapers, would reduce its workforce of 1,350 people by 300 — including a whopping 130 from the newsroom. The cuts are the latest in a slew of workforce reductions at dailies across the country.

“All Cox newspapers are carefully assessing their own markets and business models and will be taking the actions necessary to remain financially sound,” Mellott said in the e-mail.

Mellott also said a long-coming effort to reinvent the print paper, dubbed internally as “AJC 2.0” are “in the final prototyping stage.” While the daily’s brass have talked enthusiastically about “2.0,” many rank-and-file journalists are sweating what may be around the corner. They fear it will herald a new round of cuts.

(more…)

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