Fresh Loaf

The now-infamous “Names in boxes” memo at the AJC came out Thursday and, in the words of one staffer, it so emotionally devastated the newsroom that it’s a miracle an edition of the paper was printed that evening.

Essentially, the memo lays out which jobs are going to be kept under the paper’s re-structuring. More importantly, it also conveys which jobs aren’t going to be kept. About half the staff had their names “in the box.” The rest are going to have to apply for new jobs within the newsroom and the fear is, of course, that if you don’t receive a job, you’ll be fired.

Staffers and former staffers say it was like being hit by a “shock and awe” mission. One person e-mailed: “I had a friend that gathered a bunch of ppl and they all drank in her apartment, versus going to [a] 6pm meeting to “explain” the changes. No one that I know felt like feeling the sting further – they wanted to drink it off. “

Another e-mailed: “Got lots of depressed drunken txts from colleagues last night. It’s really awful in the newsroom this week.”

The word is the AJC will now depend on wire services for the bulk of its movie reviews (you prefer Curt Holman and Felicia Feaster anyway, right?) and will retain the services of just one music writer. The health/science coverage will be cut back to one reporter.

Here’s what we’re hearing in terms of the breakdown on some of the jobs that will be kept and those that won’t:

(more…)

Bookmark It

Let’s face it: Right-wing talk radio acquired the moniker “hate radio” for a reason. It’s full of racism, religious bigotry, paranoia, homophobia and sexism.

One would think the media would be near-unanimous in condemning the use of public — repeat: public — airwaves to broadcast speech more appropriate to a meeting of a Klan Klavern. Over at the Cox-owned Atlanta Journal-Constitution, they did express outrage at recent comments by Don Imus. But AJC editorial writers only went ballistic when hate speech was broadcast on stations that compete with Cox’s own radio and TV outlets. The newspaper had no such criticism aimed at often more virulent racism on Cox stations.

Indeed, part of Imus’ outburst was highlighted by a racist remark about the hairdos of a women’s basketball team, and his reference to the athletes as “ho’s.”

Yet a year ago, Cox’s lead talk-radio host, Neal Boortz, referred to a black congresswoman: “She looks like a ghetto slut. … It looks like an explosion in a Brillo pad factory.” Hairdo and derogatory sexual references are hardly distinguishable from the remarks that got Imus fired.

(more…)

Bookmark It

The list of 40 or so AJC veterans opting to take a buyout to retire early has now been finalized. Or nearly so, since apparently some of those headed out the door didn’t want their co-workers to know yet that they’re leaving.

Last week, we predicted the imminent departure of movie critic Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, political reporter Tom Baxter, investigative reporter Ron Martz, fashion writer Marilyn Johnson, all-purpose writer Mae Gentry, and Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer Mike Toner.

According to a memo sent today to AJC employees, we can now add to that list:

• North Fulton reporter Paul Kaplan
• Travel writer Paula Crouch Thrasher
• Crime reporter Bill Montgomery
• Human-interest reporter Bill Osinski
• Editorial writer David McNaughton
• City Life editor Jingle Davis
• Education editor Keith Graham
• Photographers Nick Arroyo, W.A. Bridges and Charlotte Teagle

As for conservative columnist Jim Wooten, word is he changed his mind and decided to stay. Drat. No word on investigative reporter Jane Hanson, who was rumored to be leaving, but whose name did not appear on the list.

The real hair-pulling begins at 9 a.m. Wednesday, when everyone else comes in to discover if his or her job still exists. Bring a camera — there may be a few swan dives from the ninth floor of 72 Marietta St.

Bookmark It

It’s not a good day to be a reporter or editor at the AJC.

Word is the staff is on edge because the powers-that-be are going to inform the staff on Wednesday which jobs will be kept under the paper’s vast re-structuring plan. Staffers fear that those who management likes will keep their jobs, and the ones it doesn’t like will lose theirs.

What I’ve heard is that every person on staff will have to apply to keep his or her job, complete with résumé and a job interview.

If, for example, the AJC decides not to keep a reporter on the City Hall beat, the current person manning that beat can apply for open jobs. Everyone, I’m told, has had to prepare résumés (classes on résumé writing and job interviewing were provided).

(more…)

Bookmark It

The South has a new luxury lifestyle magazine.

The premiere issue of Charleston-based Garden & Gun is on newsstands now. According to the magazine’s website:

It reflects the lives of modern southern men and women and inspires us to enjoy the fruits of the land while preserving the natural resources for the future.

By “natural resources,” I think they mean “trees with Spanish moss that make nice backdrops for photo shoots.

Bookmark It

John Sugg’s March 7 CL cover story went into detail over how the AJC refused to publish a series on racial cleansing that was written by Elliot Jaspin, a member of the Washington bureau of Cox Newspapers. Jaspin turned the series into a book, Buried in the Bitter Waters: The Hidden History of Racial Cleansing in America, that details his behind-the-scenes battles with AJC editors.

And the fur hasn’t stopped flying. In an interview with the History News Network, Jaspin again criticizes the AJC for not running a series that other Cox newspapers ran because it happened to criticize the AJC’s coverage of racial cleansing in Forsyth County.

And Jaspin even issues a Clint Eastwood-like challenge to the paper.

(more…)

Bookmark It

Word is that out of the 80 AJC journalists over the age of 55 who were offered early retirement buy-outs, 40 have accepted and some of the names are huge.

According to what we’re hearing from inside 72 Marietta St., and it’s in no way official, here are some of those who are said to be leaving the paper:

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie. She has been the film reviewer at the AJC for as long as I can remember and has built a loyal following among readers.

Tom Baxter. One half of the “Political Insider” duo. Baxter takes with him 33 years of institutional knowledge.

Mike Toner. He received a Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism in 1993 for “When Bugs Fight Back,” a series that explored the diminishing effectiveness of antibiotics and pesticides.

Ron Martz. One of the paper’s best investigative reporters; however, Martz also co-led the paper’s ill-fated coverage that portrayed Richard Jewell as the Centennial Olympic Park bomber in 1996.

(more…)

Bookmark It

An NBC “Dateline” story on the experiences of a rookie teacher in an Atlanta middle school just won a Peabody Award.

The Grady Foster Peabody Awards contest, which happens to be administered by the University of Georgia’s Grady School of Journalism, is sort of like the Pulitzers, except they’re for broadcast journalists.

“The Education of Ms. Groves” aired on WXIA-TV and other NBC affiliates in August. It chronicles Monica Groves in her first year at Jean Childs Young Middle School in Cascade Heights (southwest Atlanta).

“Inspiring but not schmaltzy, this program tracks the learning curve of a wide-eyed, first-year middle-school teacher in Atlanta who discovers her job demands skills and resources as well as idealism,” according to the Peabody announcement.

“Dateline” correspondent Hoda Kotb and producer Izhar Harpaz are based in New York. As far as I could tell from the announcement, no local news organizations or journalists won any Peabodys this year.

Though the award’s given by UGA, the ceremony’s traditionally under the bright lights of the big city. Sportscaster Bob Costas will preside over the event June 4 in New York City.

Bookmark It