Fresh Loaf

Two organizers of Thursday’s book-related protest outside the Atlanta Journal-Constitution offices were surprised when top editor Julia Wallace invited them upstairs for a chat.

The demonstration, which drew as many as 60 local authors, literary critics and book-lovers, was staged to express displeasure with the newspaper’s elimination of the job of book editor, a position currently held by Teresa Weaver.

Shannon Byrne, a local publicist for Little, Brown, and John Freeman, president of the National Book Critics Circle, were given an hourlong private audience with Wallace and the newly elevated “managing editor for print,” Bert Roughton.

Byrne says Wallace began the meeting by telling her guests that the two-page Sunday book section is the least-read section in the paper and explained that the paper was going to be devoting more of its resources to local coverage. As she has in recent interviews and memos, Wallace, however, also said the AJC’s commitment to book coverage would not suffer.

Byrne, for one, sees a contradiction there.

“I’m glad they appeared willing to listen to us and I’d like to believe their reassurances,” she says. “But I don’t see how a book section gets better when you get rid of your book editor and you have fewer people doing more work.”

Certainly, there was no shortage of coverage of the book protest. The event was filmed by CNN, C-SPAN and Fox News, and was also covered by Publishers Weekly.

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This is a tale about missing newspaper boxes. To sort out the players, Creative Loafing’s readers will recall that Debby Eason founded this newspaper 35 years ago. In 2000, her son, Ben, took over the group. Debby went off and started several community newspapers called the Story. She recently stopped print publication, although the Story still has a Web presence.

Meanwhile, J. Patrick Best was once CL’s ad director. When he left … well, it wasn’t pretty. Best started a publication called the Sunday Paper. It’s either a sorry imitation or a spunky competitor to CL, depending on your point of view (or who signs your paycheck).

Back to Debby Eason. When she quit publication of the Story, she wanted to sell her 850 distribution racks and boxes. Best bargained with Debby to get the boxes for the Sunday Paper, and we also wanted them. Since we’re owned by Debby’s son, we won. Blood is thicker than water, as you’ve heard.

The Story had already plastered its boxes with CL’s logo — just so there wouldn’t be confusion about who owned them. But when our circulation department went to pick up nine of the boxes at Atlantic Station, they weren’t there. Nope, they were missing in action. So we filed a police report.

It turns out the Sunday Paper had the boxes, and, despite our logo on them, had painted them. A big oops on their part. They say the incident was a mistake, that an overenthusiastic independent distributor had erred in kidnapping our boxes, according to a voicemail message Best left with our publisher, Dave Schmall. “I want nothing to do with them,” Best said.

We got the boxes back with no bloodshed, and we’re not accusing anyone of wrongdoing. Meanwhile, we’re out inventorying the rest of the Story’s former boxes and racks to see if any others are MIA.

The good news is that you’ll find CL in hundreds of more places when we get the boxes out on the street.

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Certain aspects of the staff shake-up at the AJC have created a stir far beyond the bounds of our fair city. CL had already blogged about the uproar in the local literary community over the planned elimination of the position of book editor as a preview to a related story set to appear in this week’s Loaf.

However, the fuss has attracted the attention of the New York Times, which today contains an article titled “Are Book Reviewers Out of Print?” The article notes similar changes going on at such major newspapers as the San Fransisco Chronicle and LA Times, and quotes such literary heavyweights as Richard Ford and Melissa Fay Greene — who also spoke to CL — who feel that the decision to do away with the job of book editor can only lead to a decline in the quality book coverage at the AJC.
What the NYT didn’t say was that local book-lovers have scheduled a protest — or “read-in” — outside the AJC offices at 72 Marietta St. for 10 a.m. Thursday morning.

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I wrote last week that an industry source predicted that nationwide newspaper circulation numbers would show a 5 percent decline for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Sunday edition. The source was a little optimistic.

The actual Sunday loss was 6.7 percent, declining to 523,687, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Meanwhile, daily circulation fell 2 percent, to 357,399.

When the AJC reports this, it will be with the explanation that most dailies saw plunging circulation, and that’s true. The smoke screen of explanation by the newspapers is that all of these weird things have conspired to starve them of readers, things like the Internet. What they won’t admit — especially over at the AJC — is that for years they have slashed news staffs and dumbed down their publications. Savvy readers have left.

Don’t expect the AJC to give you historical perspective. Nineteen years ago (the earliest I could dig up complete records), the combined daily circulation of Atlanta’s then two newspapers was 458,700. The Sunday edition was 650,500.

That’s a 22 percent loss for daily, 19.5 percent for Sunday. Meanwhile, from 1990 to 2006, the Atlanta metro area has added more than 2 million people, an increase of more than 67 percent. Thus, the AJC has gone from reaching about 1 in 6 potential subscribers to 1 in 14.

If you’re an advertiser, the AJC likely refers to you as “Hello, sucker.” The more circulation that vaporizes, the higher the advertising rates go (the opposite of what logic would indicate). For the billionaire Cox family owners, lost circulation is a plus. They spend less publishing the newspaper.

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In addition to dealing with a newsroom full of demoralized reporters, AJC execs are weathering a fairly public protest of their decision to eliminate the position of book editor, long held by staffer Teresa Weaver. It’s yet unclear exactly how the AJC intends to alter its book coverage — perhaps using wire reviews or thinning down its two-page Sunday book section — but readers seem to fear the worst.

New York-based John Freeman, who serves as president of the National Book Critics Circle and is a frequent contributor to the AJC’s book reviews, has posted an online petition that challenges the newspaper to reinstate Weaver as book editor and to avoid trimming the section. After praising the AJC’s book section, Freeman is blunt:

I am a subscriber to and/or a frequent reader of the Atlanta Journal Constitution, and I want the AJC to continue publishing a book section edited by Teresa Weaver that gives Atlanta a unique, thoughtful approach to books, one that represents a diverse array of voices, and is not simply fed by wire copy from the Associated Press or the New York Times.

So far, the petition has collected more than 3,000 signatures, many accompanied by comments. AJC editor Julia Wallace has sent several correspondents a letter that seeks to soothe reader concerns:

Let me allay your fears: We are not killing our book coverage or book pages. So long as books are important to our readers, we will continue to dedicate space to them.

Judging from the fast-growing number of signatures on the petition and the tone of many of the comments, readers have not found her words reassuring.

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Word is leaking out about more bad news at the Atlanta Daily of Desperately Declining Circulation. The industry monitor — the Audit Bureau of Circulations — will release its latest numbers on Monday.

Editor & Publisher reports: “According to industry sources, overall daily circulation for the six months ending March 2007 is expected to sink approximately 2.5% while Sunday will drop around 3.0%.”

One of those sources tells us that the AJC will beat the pack — and record a 5 percent drop in Sunday circulation. No word yet on what the daily numbers will show.

The newspaper industry has long been in a cycle of decimating news staffs — as the AJC did recently, pushing senior staffers (as in those who know shit from Shinola) out the door. The quality of the papers plunges, and then publishers scratch their heads and wonder why droves of readers are refusing to read the daily rags.

Expect the AJC to acknowledge any circulation losses, but gloss them with sophistry about online readership.

Meanwhile, Media Audits, which measures audiences for print and broadcast outlets, had some good news for CL. More people read us each month than read the front section of the AJC.

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AJC Editorial Page Editor Cynthia Tucker won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary today.

In a press release, the Pulitzer Prize Board praised Tucker’s “courageous, clear-headed columns that evince a strong sense of morality and persuasive knowledge of the community.”

In 2006, Creative Loafing named Tucker Best Columnist in our Best of Atlanta issue. We wrote that Tucker “produces timely and often courageous columns that dare to expose the clay feet of such local idols as Cynthia McKinney and the King family.”

In addition to a handsome trophy and a $10,000 cash prize, Tucker can now compete each morning with editorial cartoonist Mike Luckovich and Managing Editor Hank Klibanoff for the AJC’s prestigious “Reserved For Pulitzer Prize-Winners Only” parking space.

The award is well-deserved and we wish her congratulations.

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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…)

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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.

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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…)

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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…)

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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…)

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Our friend Doug Monroe reported yesterday on his Peachtree Screed blog that “Political Insider” Tom Baxter has accepted the buyout offer the AJC offered staffers who are 55 and older.

Doug reports that conservative columnist Jim Wooten has also accepted the buyout. Those are two major names the AJC has lost. What the AJC saves in salary, it loses in institutional memory.

Baxter has been there 33 years, and has turned the Political Insider into a must-read blog.

Best wishes to both.

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Here are the top five most viewed stories on ajc.com from last night:

• Anna Nicole’s Partner Drops DNA Appeal
• Donald Trump Wins, Keeps His ‘Do Intact
• Duff Says There’s Pressure to Be Thin
• Va. Man Picked as New Maytag Repairman
• Court Rejects Appeal in James Brown Case

Let’s see. It’s the NCAA championship game in Atlanta. The police department is in disarray. The United States apparently botched a raid that resulted in the hostage crisis in Iran. And what’s on people’s minds? Anna Nicole Smith. Still dead after two months.

But obviously not forgotten.

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Keep an eye out for a USA Today story on Gov. Sonny Perdue’s failure to come up with full funding for the state’s PeachCare health insurance program for kids. The nation’s largest newspaper is expected to run an article this week on the program’s funding problems, according to an organization contacted by a USA Today reporter.

President Bush’s budget proposal didn’t include enough money for PeachCare, which offers health insurance for kids in working-class Georgia families. Although the program is largely federally funded, Perdue and the state Legislature had the option to make up the federal shortfall. Instead, the governor is seeking a tax cut for upper-income senior citizens. And, oh yeah, he also wants to build boat ramps.

(more…)

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