A remarkably stupid decision?
April 14th, 2009 by Cliff Bostock in Food media, NewsA tsunami of outrage and confusion is traveling through the foodie community. Its cause is the announcement that the AJC’s management has taken John Kessler off the food beat and assigned him the gig of writing personality profiles for Sunday editions.
Our former dining editor Bill Addison has a post about the news on his Atlanta magazine blog. He pays tribute to John for his influence on his own career. You can read the reactions of foodies on John’s Facebook page.
What is not clear is whether John had any role in the decision. I wonder about this because it seems remarkably stupid to kick arguably your most popular writer off his beat. John was first hired at the AJC as dining critic and then, after about eight years, moved to the broader role of food writer. Perhaps moving to an even broader role appeals to him.
Still, he likely had no choice if he wants to stay at the AJC. The change, along with other surviving employees’ reassignments, was announced the day after the paper rid itself of 70-plus editorial staff members through “buy-outs,” including some major names. This follows several earlier rounds of layoffs, buyouts and early retirements. As far as I can tell, the paper’s arts coverage has been completely eviscerated.
The paper is also closing several suburban bureaus and shipping Cynthia Tucker off to DC to ruminate strictly about national-level politics. There’s been no word whether Cynthia, a Pulitzer winner, had a role in her new assignment, either.
I have to confess that when I was reading one of John’s recent pieces a few days ago, I wondered, “Why the hell is this man writing about donuts?” He is a gifted writer and maybe he can take inspiration from Frank Rich who ended his stint as theater critic at the New York Times by becoming its most controversial and engaging Sunday columnist.
Of course, the depth of John’s work will depend in great part on the license he is granted. Whatever happens, the culinary scene is worse for the change.
April 15th, 2009 at 12:20 am
i love that man
April 15th, 2009 at 12:46 am
The carnage continues! This is such a shame.
April 15th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Thanks very much, Cliff…really appreciate the nice words…I think it’ll be an interesting job as long as I don’t have to profile any of those semi-real housewives…
April 15th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Dumbasses or dumbassi
April 15th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
John, we love you in this town! The food section will not be the same!
April 16th, 2009 at 8:38 am
Say what you will about the AJC, but it’s doing what it needs to do to survive. Look at this paper (Creative Loafing), it’s bankrupt. AJC, if it was a stand alone entity, would likely be bankrupt too. The journalism world is changing rapidly everyday.
April 16th, 2009 at 10:52 am
Yes, newspapers are changing. But I’m willing to bet that John drives more traffic to the AJC website than any other writer.
I’m not disputing the need to change. I’m questioning what seems like a counter-productive choice and that’s why I wondered if John was part of the decision.