Fresh Loaf

I 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.

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