Ben Eason maintains ownership in Creative Loafing bankruptcy court ruling [w/ Eason video interview]
March 31, 2009 at 1:57 pm by Wayne GarciaBen Eason, whose family started Creative Loafing in Atlanta in 1972, was vindicated in a federal bankruptcy court in Tampa today, as a judge ruled against a lender’s effort to take control of the nation’s second-largest chain of alt-weekly newspapers.
Judge Caryl E. Delano said despite contradictory (and flawed, in her estimation) reports about the chain’s value since going into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September 2008, there was no evidence given that Eason’s management of the media company is harming its value, as lender Atalaya Capital Management had maintained in its effort to dislodge Eason and the current management.
To the contrary, Delano read from the bench, three days of hearings showed that Eason’s management had done a lot to preserve value, by making budget cuts and introducing an emphasis on web publishing models, including one in Tampa that has produced a sharp increase in web traffic while making the print edition a break-even proposition instead of a money-losing one.
“I find that Atalaya has not met its initial burden of proof and is not entitled to relief [from court stays against it foreclosing on the company's debt] at this time,” Delano said.
For Eason, who has been slagged by some former employees and in anonymous blog comments, the ruling was more than satisfying, even if the company still has a long way to go in winning confirmation and release from bankruptcy court.
“I’m psyched,” Eason said as he exited an elevator on the ground floor of the Sam Gibbons Federal Courthouse. “Just to have it over with. She came to a pretty solid decision at this point.”
Delano, in fact, said from the bench that she heard no evidence that Creative Loafing’s woes are anything beyond those being experienced by all newspaper and news media companies in this recession. And as for the disputed employee morale in CL newspapers, Delano said, “Employee morale at all newspapers is is probably at an all-time low” with layoffs and contraction in the industry. If it does exist at CL, she said, it is likely for those reasons, and no evidence was given that Eason is the cause.
Likewise, Delano said that Atalaya’s financial experts had plenty of information about the start of declining revenues at Creative Loafing, which began in July 2008 and not after the bankruptcy filing. Delano said both sides’ expert valuation witnesses had impressive credentials but produced flawed values for different reasons. For Creative Loafing’s side, she said the idea that the value of the company had actually doubled since bankruptcy was filed “just defies belief.”
Atalaya loaned Creative Loafing $30 million in 2007, in a deal to pay down company debt and purchase the Washington City Paper and Chicago Reader. Another investment fund, BIA Digital, provided a secondary loan of $10 million.
But in 2008, as the impacts of the recession were felt by advertisers, Creative Loafing’s revenues began to fall sharply, down by 20 percent across the six newspapers. Much of the dispute at the heart of the three days of hearings on Atalaya’s motion went to how much the lender knew about the decline and how forthcoming the company was about it. Delano ruled that company financial reports provided at the time to Atalaya painted a clear picture of the problem, and if there was any verbal misunderstanding between the two parties about the impact of such a decline, it was only the normal “tension” between a borrower and a lender.
Although it was a strong win for the current CL management, Delano also struck a cautious tone, saying that she believed the company has “an uphill battle” ahead to have any reorganization plan confirmed by the creditors since Atalaya is far and wide the biggest creditor and could choose to vote against any plan. Delano suggested mediation for the two sides, but after a 30-minute recess in which the two sides’ lawyers talked by telephone, the idea of having a mediator appointed was tabled for now, at least until April 20 when Creative Loafing reveals more details of its reorganization plan, including possible new investors.
One of those could be BIA Digital, another lender owed $10 million in bankruptcy court. BIA’s lawyer listened in on the hearing by telephone, a rare appearance by the fund. Eason said of BIA: “They’ve been great. They’ve been very supportive through all of this.” The lender could be among the investors announced in the April 20 court filings, Eason said during the recess.
Eason cautioned that a lot more work remains ahead of the company in bankruptcy court but that with backers like BIA and others, he believes the company will emerge stronger from Chapter 11 and transformed as a web-first news publishing firm.
Print will come back a little after the recession abates, Eason said after the ruling, but never to the levels that it once held and with the profit margins it once enjoyed. The transformation to digital daily news publication online provides a better future for the company, he added. “We’ve fallen in love with the distribution platform [of the Internet], if not yet the content” being put on it.
[UPDATE] See video of Wayne Garcia talking with Ben Eason just hours after the decision came down:
Part 1:
Part 2:
March 31st, 2009 at 2:04 pm
shaking/crying
March 31st, 2009 at 2:05 pm
WOOHOO! Great news! Now let’s get to work and do what we need to do to put this all behind us. Congrats Ben!
March 31st, 2009 at 2:16 pm
BEST…NEWS…EVER!!!!!!
March 31st, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Grats to Ben and the CL family. Looking to the future with an understanding of the past can only lead to success.
March 31st, 2009 at 2:36 pm
There go some really good papers. That’s too bad. This current plan will never work.
March 31st, 2009 at 2:40 pm
so what happens now?
March 31st, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Very classy observer!
March 31st, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Hope you guys have life boats and that your president has a nice captain’s uniform——– as the bloggers still blog in the distance and the hull fills with Google web ads.. I bid you all farewell..And good luck ….bring on the next round of layoffs
March 31st, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Look, by their own court documents the papers’ revenue and margins are in a free fall.
March 31st, 2009 at 3:39 pm
This is a great victory for those of us who are committed to making the organization better and stronger! Go Ben – Nay Sayers be gone!
March 31st, 2009 at 3:41 pm
All of you nay-sayers need to find somewhere else to spread your negativity. We are happy and celebrating right now! :)
March 31st, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Congratulations to Ben and the Eason family! The Tampa staff is taking a moment to share our gratitude and celebrate the great news.
Tomorrow, we’re back to business doing what we do best – serving our customers!
March 31st, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Double classy sayitaintso!
March 31st, 2009 at 3:58 pm
Baby what I say? Reorg bankruptcy favors the debtor not the creditor. This may prove a pyrrhic victory for CL which is still obligated to come up with a plan the court will confirm even if it’s confirmed over the objections of Atalaya. The big winners in all this are, as usual, the attorneys accruing legal fees. But good luck, Eason.
March 31st, 2009 at 4:00 pm
It is a sad day in journalism indeed. This just means that Eason will further cut staff, further gut his papers.
I don’t know why anyone would celebrate this unless they are incompetent morons.
March 31st, 2009 at 4:07 pm
Good news indeed. Positive thoughts going to all our CL partners, and I hope they’re able to do what they need to do to get through the current crisis. CL has been a great supporter of much that’s right and local here, and we are grateful for it!
March 31st, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Nay-sayers, yay-sayers, you’re all welcome on our blog. We could use the page views. http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2009/03/31/washington-city-paper-parent-co-wins-bankruptcy-ruling/
March 31st, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Move on “Loaf Employee,” no one is forcing you to stay if you feel that way. This company needs positive innovative hard working people who believe in the future and can be adaptable.
March 31st, 2009 at 4:22 pm
Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrrraaaaaa! My faith in the power of Atalaya is shattered! This was not supposed to be … the portents and the omens favored us … we were promised by the Divine One Himself … we have made blood sacrifices all for naught … now, in shame, I must pierce my eyeballs with an obsidian blade!
March 31st, 2009 at 4:22 pm
Great news! Love the new format and website.
March 31st, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Ogai is out on emergency medical leave and I will be filling in until the next solstice when Atalaya appoints a permanent replacement.
March 31st, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Ditto what Ed said. Move the fuck on if you don’t like your job or your company you fucking idiot. You are the fucking moron for working for a company you can’t align youself with. If you are so smart and can figure it all out, either step up or start your own media company.
March 31st, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Everything is in free fall Observer.
March 31st, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Great response! Shout down the messenger! I stay on only because I have a good pre-Loaf editor. I see nothing in the the Loaf-brand papers that resembles the type of journalism that should be done.
To celebrate is to celebrate Eason’s push for reader content (i.e. cheap content), the continued cutting of arts coverage, and the gutting of the newsroom in general.
Are you gonna celebrate when Eason turns you into an aggregating monkey?
March 31st, 2009 at 5:17 pm
This is your captain Ben speaking. Glad to have you back on the Titanic. You brought a bucket right? Enjoy the ride.
March 31st, 2009 at 5:34 pm
I would say you are correct james everybody is in free fall …but maybe everybody did not buy papers they could not afford at the worst possible time…My thought is you played you gambled you diced with the big boys and you lost …so lose like a big boy …this is not a happy situation put down your glass you are bankrupt you own a newspaper …now any of those last 13 words make you feel like celebrating ????!!!!!!.. good day sir!!…..leave the everlasting gobstopper on the table and you do not get the lifetime supply of chocolate.
March 31st, 2009 at 5:44 pm
Best. Comment. Ever.
March 31st, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Ben’s comment I mean. All you nay-sayers can have a Fight Club style cry fest on Bob’s bitch tits.
March 31st, 2009 at 6:07 pm
I was just wondering after reading all of these comments:
Where is the lenders responsibility? If it was bad timing and if it wasn’t affordable to the buyer, why would the money flow to make it happen? Did anyone expected the economy to turn the way it has? Would the purchased entities still be standing in this economic environment if they were still stand alone? If, if, if, if, if…
Between sour grapes and champagne, always choose the champagne.
Is it a good day, or just not as bad as yesterday?
Celebration – a no, no in Chapter 11? – oh fuck…
Is it a choice to be a miserable asshole?
March 31st, 2009 at 6:16 pm
Some messengers just need to move on, pleeaaasssse. You are a big drain on those with the buckets and plugging the leaks.
March 31st, 2009 at 6:47 pm
Amazing,disgruntled workers doing us all a favor by staying because of his preloaf editor, what a bunch of BS.
Leave and go back to flipping burgers at Wendy’s
March 31st, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Interesting that all the Loaf Loyalists have nothing to say about the quality of journalism they produce.
Or the problems Eason’s money woes have had on their papers’ staff levels, page counts, and over all content.
I guess they like doing gift guides and selling out to reader-content models instead of investing in investigative journalism.
March 31st, 2009 at 7:18 pm
Speaking only for myself (and using my real name) it’s probably worth keeping in mind – on both sides – that the “pre-Loaf” employees have only experienced Eason/CL in a buyout followed by a bankruptcy. Not only that, but a buyout that was rolled out badly and left lingering resentment. The acrimony from anonymous employees, while not necessarily justified or helpful, is at least comprehensible.
So, while as a writer and editor I understand how tough the acrimony can be, it is worth keeping in mind that the acquired employees have only dealt with CL in a time of crisis.
Calling someone a “fucking idiot” for holding onto a job out of loyalty to colleagues or friends, a job which still may or may not be under the auspices of CL in the coming months, is no less comprehensible, but it’s no more justified, either.
Look, I know people think things like this – I’m an adult, and I have a temper just like everyone else, and I’ve thought and said things I’m not proud of during this ongoing process. But consider the perspective of the other side before committing words to print, or digital, or whatnot. It’s kind of the cardinal rule of the business we’re in.
March 31st, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Get off your old platform loaf employee – in all ways. The past is the past. Make the best of what the situation is and contribute with an open mind for survival and a new generation of media opportunities. Stop blaming others, no one asked for the shift, but to ignore the reality of what’s going on is ridiculous. Gift guides suck, and so do some reader generated content models, so innovate on how you can contibute to make it suck in the least way possible. Your smart right?
March 31st, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Yes and I suppose some of you will be like the band playing on the Titanic while it sank.
This Bankruptcy isn’t over yet and I think some of you are losing perspective of this.
Some of you are acting like this is some court room docudrama. The judge ruled that the current management can reign for now and even she was skeptical of the restructuring plan.
So, before you start whooping it up.. Remember that.
And for what it is worth, the dedicated employees at the Chicago Reader, realize that things will never be as they were however, from the moment CL bought the Chicago Reader, we were lied to, treated like our opinions didn’t matter, staff cut, (who had to hear about it on the radio before they were even told) and even now, there is management who refuse to listen to seasoned employees who know the Chicago market. The Chicago Reader and the DC Paper should be the jewels in CL’s crown and since CL purchased these papers, nothing has been done to keep either of these papers strong in the community and this also goes for WEB as well. Maybe if Ben took a few minutes to actually LISTEN to some of his employees at the Reader and DC and showed some sign of caring, perhaps the opinions, acrimony and discontent would have been avoided.
March 31st, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Growing up as a bit of a social outcast, I have loved CL/WP paper from the first issue I picked up; and now I am an employee of the publication that helped me to see that there was a sub-culture of intelligent and likeminded people out there. I only hope that those of you disappointed in the courts call will try to put forth half as much energy to IMPROVE the company as you have in trying to express your misdirected anger. You might be amazed by what we could be able to achieve if we work together.
March 31st, 2009 at 8:41 pm
I am happy with this news, but it upsets me that we have some people who are so bitter about their environment, bitter enough they think having a bank take over the company will make it better. Please realize Atalaya will not come in and lick your wounds like a momma bear comforting her poor beat up baby cubs. Also realize with the last round of lay-offs, your office wasn’t the only one affected. Don’t sit there thinking that Ben is just sitting their picking on you. Now pick yourself up, dust yourself off and see what you can do to make the paper last another 20 years, because I believe that is Ben’s goal. Atalaya’s goal, get their money back. They might be stuck with us for the next year or so until the economy gets back then they will find a buyer, and while looking for a buyer they are going to make more changes, make us look more appealing, dress us up a bit, you know like a model home, all dressed up and fake looking waiting for someone to go I’ll take it.
March 31st, 2009 at 8:42 pm
I think a great deal of the frustration felt by current employees is that we DO love the CL brand … and it’s crumbling around us. We DO want to help, we DO have ideas … and they are ignored again and again. Eason would do well to ask for employee input AND ACTUALLY TAKE HEED. We know how the company runs on a micro level. He might be amazed to find some really smart people within his own walls.
March 31st, 2009 at 8:47 pm
As a long time Chicago Reader employee…
It’s too bad Delano didn’t talk to employees to help make her decision. The morale is low at the Reader is because you have really bad management practices, an adversarial relationship with the long time employees at the Chicago Reader from day 1, employees who have been lied to, bullied, and downsized to the point the Reader is barely treading water. Could we work harder? Could we have a different attitude as some long time Loafers have rudely pointed out to the malcontents at the Chicago Reader? Probably. However, one thing you have to realize is that many of the Chicago Reader employees who have been vocal about their discontent with the Creative Loafing management, are vocal because many of us took pride in putting out the paper each week. From your staff writers, editors, classifed reps, display reps, operations people and even the drivers, working for the Chicago Reader meant something. It meant you were part of something that shaped and impacted this great city. Now, you tell people you work for the Reader and you get either blank looks or looks of pity. It saddens many of the long time Reader folks. So, if some of us are a little passionate and upset it is because it is as if Ben Eason and Creative Loafing destroyed, neglected and rendered a member of the family useless. So, we can only hope that those who read your blog can understand that there is a HUGE difference between frustration with the economy and then there bad morale from employees who see something they care about being destroyed and theres not a damn thing they can do about it!
March 31st, 2009 at 8:49 pm
catrina, no one thought Atalya was going to be a savior or even a great alternative. But a change seems necessary … a change that now may never come.
As for layoffs … every office is operating like a skeleton. How can people NOT be upset by that? And you can “fake” a dress-up for a paper? I don’t even see how that would be possible. What would you do, pile all the cities special issues into one week to show an artificial boost in revenue? Oh wait …
Again, the negativity is not arbitrary. These are real problems. These are real frustrations. Pretending like they don’t exist is entirely counter-productive.
March 31st, 2009 at 8:58 pm
Most people don’t have a clue as to what Ch-11 bankruptcy means. It’s a chance to survive. For any CL or CR loyalist or employees you should count your blessings that the current management is still in charge. Senior debt has only one objective and that is to get paid. As distasteful as the decisions to cut staff are it least it is being done by people who care. The easy way out would to be to cut a deal with the lender and let them run the show. CEO gets a pay check while financial guys and gals sharpen their knives. At least this CEO has the balls to take this task upon himself and cut with compassion. Papers all over the country are in trouble. Good writers can be syndicated. If you hold on to the way things were you will be left behind. Anyone ask themselves why the CR owners sold. You’er best to be in experienced hands than in the hands of some scared portfolio manager who needs to recover cash for his investors.
March 31st, 2009 at 9:12 pm
“Please realize Atalaya will not come in and lick your wounds like a momma bear comforting her poor beat up baby cubs.”
I don’t think anyone’s lining up to be run by a cuddly little hedge fund – Atalaya I can’t speak to but, you are surely aware of that industry’s reputation. The theory, as I understand it, is this: when the creditor keeps the company, that means the debt goes away.
Obviously it’s more complicated than that, but for a lot of people who have been put through the ringer during the past 1.5 years, the prospect is appealing: maybe the debt would just disappear and there’d be a bit more content to survive the worst of the greater economic rut (which hasn’t arrived yet). Here in Chicago, with our peers at other papers getting laid off, one more reporter in the face of a collapsing news hole would do a world of good, and heaven knows there’s plenty of available talent.
Cut them some slack, catrina, and save the condescension. You’re fighting a straw man.
March 31st, 2009 at 9:14 pm
I bet you think this blog is about, you you’re so vague, you’re so vague. I bet you think this blog is about you don’t you, don’t you.
Eloquently and purposefully vague and righteous and spreading bitterness thinly layered with a slice of superiority.
March 31st, 2009 at 9:14 pm
Yes, all the offices are working on a skeleton crew. Yes it’s upsetting to see employees go, just recently one of my favorites was let go. But do you think it would be to this point if the economy hadn’t taken a nose dive? Ask yourself that. Unfortunately I have never had the privilege to get to know the Chicago Reader and Washington City Paper in all their glory, but you know what, I am new to the CL culture also. I was hired at the same time they bought the Reader and the Paper. Only been in Florida 1 week. It killed me to know what was going to happen, having worked at two companies that were bought out. First thing that happens, lay offs and policy changes. It’s what happens. But as I love CR says, it’s not over. We still have to go to mediation and the bank and CL have to come to an agreement. Hopefully in the end when all the dust settles and the loans have been restructured, all the papers will still be standing. I’m sorry the Reader and City Paper are not the papers they use to be, but I don’t think any paper across the US right now is the same as they use to be. Change is hard to accept, but change is inevitable.
March 31st, 2009 at 9:20 pm
LOL – Cuddly little hedge funds! The image that brings to my mind!
March 31st, 2009 at 10:11 pm
Negativity is counter-productive. No one believes that there aren’t real problems and legitimate concerns. We have to come together to resolve these issues. If everyone will just reboot and start from today with a fresh outlook and a positive attitude, we could do amazing things. We are only out of the game if we waste the energy on bs. Outline your concerns and suggestions in specific and meaningful ways. I know it’s difficult with diminishing resources, but that is the reality, so we have to work with what we have and do our best. The only other choice is to move on, because by not doing so you are further hurting the cause your state your are claiming to cherish in the first place. I don’t know if this makes any sense, I’m obviously not a writer, but i care deeply for my coworkers (all of them in all publications, even though I haven’t met most of you) and hope that we can survive and eventually prosper again. We should not be the enemies of each other, our size as 6 publications should help buffer this recession/depression. I know there have been decisions that have hurt and mistakes that have been made but we have to get beyond that for the good of all. Praying for peace, love and prosperity to all!
March 31st, 2009 at 10:25 pm
We are not a country, I mean a company of Democrats and Republicans. We are a company of Americans.
March 31st, 2009 at 11:12 pm
wow… what a bunch of petty bullshit is being spewed from disgruntled employees hanging on to the past. do us all a favor and move on.
the reader was purchased because they were hemorrhaging money… they had antiquated systems in place for layout & production… the CL purchase allowed them to jump into the 21st century.
was the timing perfect – as a monday morning QB we can say no – but the woes currently left are much less then if there was no CL to help guide you into the future.
was the staff changes perfectly handled, i am sure you do not think so. That said, cutting a few positions is better then cutting them all. As an industry we are in survival mode and it requires us all to be focused, balanced, and adaptable. Just today Media General laid off another 53 jobs in Tampa. Will the staffing changes cause some problems – possibly – but it will also create opportunities to innovate.
At the end of the day, the negativity is focusing only on the immediate, which is the wrong perspective. Once on the other side of CH11 & the current economic climate we will be in a position to grow again. That is what everyone’s focus should be.
March 31st, 2009 at 11:59 pm
A very wise man once taught us that we are responsible for everything in our lives – we choose our circumstances and how we react to them. We choose to be in media, we choose to work for Creative Loafing, and if we don’t like those choices, we can make other choices. If you are unhappy, you are choosing to stay that way. Make another choice, one that is healthier and more productive for you. There is nothing wrong with those of us that are happy with our lives at CL and take responsibility for helping to make the future even better. The past is gone. We have the reality of today to deal with. Embrace it. How hard is that?
April 1st, 2009 at 6:34 am
Everyone gets the concern for quality journalism and yes the product has suffered – no doubt. We have to exploit the excellence and talent that still exists and listen to their recommendations. Lets start a feed for ideas that will make us better with the tremendous human assets we still possess.
April 1st, 2009 at 7:49 am
In Tampa, we recently went through the Digital Transformation and the shift to Web-first publishing. It required a philosophical change that wasn’t easy for some people, and we are by no means experts yet. But I believe that it is a model for the future, and that our content will retain its voice if we stay true to the cause of the “alts.” (And we need to replace the word “alternative.”)
Writers or “Journalists,” you need to let your egos down and become editors fast. There has been a shift in the food chain, and you’ll need to adapt to survive. You need to learn to manage other people (your contributors) and be able to headline, link and tease in 140 characters with as much voice (and SEO) as if you had 5,000 words.
Marketing people, you’ll need to learn to let go of “brand.” Let it seep down into social networks and get corrupted by tweets and tiny URLs. The content and the conversation has now become the brand – let it spread.
Sales people: Not only is the economy struggling, but if you thought it was difficult selling print and Web, now you’ll have to pitch digital ad networks, event sponsorships, e-newsletters, text messaging and Web services, video pre-roll, audio spots for podcasts, sponsorships for each show as well as spots within each show. Yes, it’s the fragmentation of your product line and it’s a lot to keep track of, but it’s also a much broader range of tools to use to serve the customer.
We’re working in media at a historic turning point. We need to publish globally and engage locally. We need to be flexible enough to ride new technologies and new platforms for as long as they are in use. And remember to have fun. It needs to be fun.
To my co-workers in the other cities, be strong. We are all family and we will get through this together. To the negativity, I say this: There are plenty of people out there who would love to have your job right now. If your manager isn’t listening to your ideas, prove that they will work, that they will engage your user/reader, that they will make money, that they will increase pageviews, etc. Then present them. We could all use more innovation right now.
To our readers, please continue to talk to us about what you like and don’t like, about your tastes and your passions. We are here for you, and we wouldn’t be here without you.
Stay up, CL.
@jorantampa
April 1st, 2009 at 8:33 am
Joran:
While I appreciate your enthusiasm for what you are trying to do in Tampa, it is difficult to see the “news” slip away from our newspapers. Yes, we’re newspapers not just “alts” whatever that means.
No matter, how hard you and others try, you can’t replace in-depth reporting, aggressive reporting with tweets.
You wrote:
“You need to learn to manage other people (your contributors) and be able to headline, link and tease in 140 characters with as much voice (and SEO) as if you had 5,000 words.”
Um. That’s scary.
Speaking just as one employee at Washington City Paper, I can say that we can manage to do both tweet and write long when the story merits the treatment. On election night and for the inauguration, our small staff wrote dozens and dozens of blog items and tweets. But we also can and do produce the narrative story.
The scary part is that Eason seems to think the only answer is links, tweets, and Exurb blah, blah, blah.
I did a quick stroll though the Tampa Loaf’s site–I admit I haven’t looked at it much at all–and couldn’t find a single news story except for Wayne Garcia’s stuff.
Are there stories that you are particularly proud of writing? Do you wish there could be the mix of both –low cost aggregation and well-resourced storytelling?
Do you wish there will still be a commitment to current staffing levels? Do you wish you had your own art director that could shape and design stories in-house?
If you want true dialogue, the executives–need to not just listen but actually take our ideas and use them.
And please, can someone tell me how we will survive as a digital product when online ad sales are still an incredibly small percentage of our revenue?
We keep shrinking the physical size of our paper product even though it is still the breadwinner.
April 1st, 2009 at 8:41 am
The “brand” of this company is that its true believers take criticism so personally, always, and instead of facing what’s at the root of it—the destruciton and lack of respect or even knowledge about content that is reported, reliable, and well-told in favor of links and blather about Indie Undies and “urban explorers” (whoever the fuck they are), or worse: Urbex 411 anyone? Instead, it’s all about people hurting other people’s feeling and not being loyalists (substitute “Patriots” and it’s like Bill O’Reilly is on these comments). Wake up the revenue lost because of loss of respect to the “brand.” Wake up to the fact your “digital conversion” is very problematic to readers (not “urban explorers”) who have brains and want to actually know about news in their community and not just where to go to get vibrators. You have amazing talent within this chain that you repeatedly and purposefully ignore. So now some people don’t want to drink Champagne because your next-shiny-object method of management will continue. Yeah, I know. It’s all about you.
April 1st, 2009 at 8:51 am
This “digital transformation” business is silly when the overwhelming amount of your revenue is still generated by print.
City Paper and the Reader had been on a downward trajectory for several years when Creative Loafing entered the picture, but CL has accelerated the decline of these once-great publications. He borrowed a lot of money to acquire properties that were better than his own, and then he began to destroy them with a risky strategy.
My sympathies go to anyone who has to work for this lightweight, but my advice for now is to change careers and, in the meantime, keep saying yes, yes, yes . . .
April 1st, 2009 at 9:20 am
Anyone who follows alt weeklies knows that the CL papers underperform for the size markets they are in. The filings related to this bankruptcy just confirm that. Compare Atlanta to Houston, Dallas, or St. Louis and you can easily see that it is not keeping up with the industry. Compare Tampa and Charlotte to Orlando, Jacksonville, Raleigh or Memphis and it is obvious that those are all better managed papers. Yes, the whole industry is down, but most alt-weeklies are not in the free fall situation that CL is in. This chain needs good management and Eason has proven that he can’t attract or retain the top management talent in the business.
As for the digital strategy, there is a reason that online ads only make up about 8% of newspaper companies revenues nationally. It’s not lack of inventory, it’s the inability to keep rates up. Right now the supply of online inventory is so high, there is a significant downward pressure on rate. So your web strategy may be designed to increase page views, but it is going to have the net effect of driving down revenue as you move advertisers from print to online. What that means for all you happy employees is that management will have to cut circulation and staff on the print side to offset the decline – even if the model is successful beyond everyone’s imagination.
That’s why I am sad to see Eason retain control. CL, Chicago Reader, and Washington CP could be so much more than they will ever be under his leadership.
April 1st, 2009 at 10:06 am
The employees at the Chicago Reader and City Paper need to face reality. Your papers are over. The names are still the same but the papers are now poor quality loafs of crap and will get worse every month. To the talented people who are left you need to get out of there and start your own publications – print, web, whatever. For many of you it will be hard to say good-bye to a paper you have dedicated your lives to for so many years and a scary thought to go out on your own but use your enegy, talent and passion and you will thrive. Complaining about Ben is getting kind of old and your best revenge would be to put him out of business by creating a better product and one you can be proud of, again.
April 1st, 2009 at 11:40 am
I love this one:
adman Says:
March 31st, 2009 at 10:11 pm
Negativity is counter-productive. No one believes that there aren’t real problems and legitimate concerns. We have to come together to resolve these issues. If everyone will just reboot and start from today with a fresh outlook and a positive attitude, we could do amazing things. We are only out of the game if we waste the energy on bs. Outline your concerns and suggestions in specific and meaningful ways. I know it’s difficult with diminishing resources, but that is the reality, so we have to work with what we have and do our best. The only other choice is to move on, because by not doing so you are further hurting the cause your state your are claiming to cherish in the first place. I don’t know if this makes any sense, I’m obviously not a writer, but i care deeply for my coworkers (all of them in all publications, even though I haven’t met most of you) and hope that we can survive and eventually prosper again. We should not be the enemies of each other, our size as 6 publications should help buffer this recession/depression. I know there have been decisions that have hurt and mistakes that have been made but we have to get beyond that for the good of all. Praying for peace, love and prosperity to all!
April 1st, 2009 at 11:41 am
Alvin Toffler predicted the demise of the newspaper as we know it today in his book “The Third Wave.” We had a technology revolution, Al Gore invented the internet, and news could travel all over the world in seconds instead of weeks and months. It was just a matter of time before the newspaper lost its edge, as did CNN Headline news and all the other media outlets who had the monopoly on the news back in the day. And we are watching daily newspapers fold right and left. So I think Toffler was on to something.
The Eason kids grew up hearing about Toffler and the technology revolution. Mom starting working on a Craigslist application when Craig was in elementary school. Her downfall was her choice of developer and the limited development software at the time. I believe Microsoft had just released Windows 3.1, to give you an idea of how long ago that was. So why am I sharing this with all the naysayers? I want to put in perspective why Ben is optimistic about the future of CL and not afraid of change.
We Toffler-infused kids have been expecting the internet to change the way we do business. We haven’t fought the internet, but have chosen to embrace it and figure out where we fit as an alternative media outlet. We are concerned about the possible future without investigative journalism, and we are experimenting with ways to present this from happening. You can’t see it on the Tampa site yet, but you will soon. Will it work? No one can say at this point. But what do we have to lose by trying? The daily newspapers are a case in point for what happens if we don’t try something new.
Yes, we had to lay off a lot of really good journalists due to budget cuts necessary to survive. But if we can find a way to bring back the voices in a model that allows (more) journalists to get paid for their work, we will have succeeded. I am hopeful that the unhappy folks in DC and Chicago can put the past behind them and join us in our mission to create the new alternative media company that we need to be. We may not be strictly print, but we hope to have all the alternative voices of the community in all our products so that our readers will continue to seek us out for our news, opinion and listings.
April 1st, 2009 at 11:43 am
For the record, the story behind the Reader/City Paper sale is just one of many gray areas being oversimplified for rhetorical purposes by pseudonymous posters here.
Mike Miner reported on the (objectively fascinating) nuances of it here: http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/hottype/070824/
P.S. The anti-spam word I was just required to type in to post this comment was “chill.”
April 1st, 2009 at 11:47 am
Wow. This is like Crossfire with 20 journalists! I want a copy of the DVD!
As a former loafer — one who “took one for the team” so the company could get back in the black — I have a little perspective on the situation.
I think the moral of the story is, whether you are supportive of the decision or not: Don’t rely on bankruptcy court to solve your woes.
Just as StartAnew says above: you are the master of your destiny. No matter if you support Ben or not, everyone should be updating their resume and planning for a better opportunity. Neither a hedge fund nor Creative Loafing will offer any real stability for the next few years. Don’t wait until unemployment to kick-start your ingenuity.
Sometimes a lot of this cheerleading or naysaying can get us in a rut where we “wait” to see what happens. And that’s what got media companies into this problem in the first place, waiting to see how the Internet would change print dynamics and waiting for the economy to improve.
A lot of this energy, on both sides, could be better spent improving yourself, which really is the only product you should be selling.
April 1st, 2009 at 11:59 am
Look, the problem has never been that Ben didn’t recognize that there were basic problems with the model under which alternative newsweeklies operated. You don’t need to have read Toffler to understand that the world was changing. The problem has never been that Ben doesn’t have ideas – it’s just that they were all bad.
Please don’t think that I am an embittered former Loafer or Reader or City, er, Paperer. I have been lucky to have landed well after having been orificed out. But I know what I am talking about. Ben made a hash of the transition, not only in how he handled layoffs but also in terms of how he managed the technological changes. It’s not a coincidence that few of the employees tasked with building online applications and developing online strategy are still with the company. It’s frustrating when online models change every few months, when bad technology is favored over good, when cronyism is rewarded and experience dismissed and innovation is ignored. You need more than a dog-eared copy of The Third Way to succeed – actual experience in building successful online business is a little more useful, and it’s more than a little disingenuous to ask people to “put the past behind them and join us in our mission to create the new alternative media company that we need to be” when people spent more than a year busting their asses every day to do just that, only to be ignored and dismissed and marginalized.
April 1st, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Ditto, Alex. I think we are all well served to anticipate volatility and possible job loss.
Since I’m in the CL Tampa Newsroom, I will say that as far as my morale goes, it’s a relief to have some stability at the top. In the lead-up to yesterday’s decision, I think the uncertainty of who would control the company was debilitating.
Does what happened in court yesterday mean that CL is out of the woods? Of course not. But we did go from a completely unstable situation to one that is now only unstable. If the economy would show some signs of life (and I think those signs are just beginning to emerge), I will feel better still about the future and the prospect of CL thriving for years to come.
April 1st, 2009 at 3:33 pm
This is one of the more interesting intra-CL discussions (hard to imagine there are others reading!) I’ve read. My concerns about the future are whether Ben’s planning to bring the “Tampa model” to City Paper, whether this company can meet whatever debt obligations come out of the reorganization plan, and whether CL will continue to pursue more debt. Any insights from the company bigs?
(And while I’m sure everyone’s feelings are tremendously important to them, I think D.C. City Administrator Dan Tangherlini said it best: “Optimism without data is really just an emotion.”)
The bankruptcy has been a difficult time for all of us who work for CL, and I suspect straight talk would go a long way at this point.
Finally I want to congratulate Wayne for staying on this story. Good job.
April 1st, 2009 at 7:49 pm
Oh poor unhappy Chicago & DC employees….go find a job elswhere. If Ben would not have made the purchase your sorry asses would be at the unemployment line a long time ago. Where the hell is your team support? I know this is just the beginning of a long journey but what’s the purpose of such negativity? I think that everyone that speaks against Ben obviously has some personal issues to deal with or otherwise they would be elsewhere. See if anyone else would put up with your shit. Most of you guys have no idea what any other company would tolerate. Be supportive of your workplace. What a sad scenario of such hatred in a company!
April 1st, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Ok 65% of you do not like the company we get that.. but the percent that is left who are they? What positions do they hold and why do they hold them? Are they qualified to do the job? Are they paid appropriately? Look around you at your office who makes difference and who has no business doing what they do. Maybe Ben has a good vision (I said maybe) but maybe he can’t afforded to hire the right people and maybe he is listening to the wrong people. This industry definitely has changed but have your workers been able to adapt or have you BEN E BOY have you been a good leader or maybe the question is are you a good leader? Maybe its time to clean house you are in control just because you like someone does not mean they are the right person for that job old friends are great and they will still be your friends if you let them go. But you are loosing good workers because your old friends are telling you how right you are all the time or telling you what you want to believe.
April 1st, 2009 at 9:28 pm
Thanks, Andrew.
April 1st, 2009 at 9:36 pm
I’m proud to say that this week marked my 11-year anniversary of working in the editorial department of the Chicago Reader. I work with (and used to work with a hell of a lot more) fantastic and dedicated people, in all areas: editorial, classifieds, display ad sales, receptionists, IS, circulation etc.
A newspaper is not a candy bar, so this isn’t a perfect analogy, but . . .
Say your product is a candy bar. Say you think, hey, if we cut our chocolate content by a third, cut out half the delicious chewy nougat, and drop the peanuts completely, we can really cut costs!
But you’re not going to have a better candy bar, and candy-bar consumers won’t want it.
Aside to Kiki: my anti-spam word: blocked.
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:45 am
Jerome, respectfully, then it’s not a candy bar anymore, and don’t sell it as a candy bar. People consume and digest (to continue your analogy) news and information very differently now. They get it online, yes sometimes even in long-form stories, through video, they get it on Twitter (try searching #green), via RSS and messaging. You can’t really call a company that does all that a “magazine” can you? It’s not just us that is changing.
P.S. I’ve got old friends e-mailing me now, saying, “you didn’t really mean that a Tweet can replace investigative journalism, did you?” And the answer is no, it can’t. We still need BOTH. My point was that whoever writes the 5,000 words needs to ALSO be able to link that story out to other sources in an SEO-friendly manner and Tweet the story to their followers. Oh, and you better have a digital camera with you and get a good picture (or video), because there might not be a freelancer available to “get the shot” a week later. Not only are the lines between editorial and marketing becoming blurrier, but the methods of gathering news are changing. And it’s NEVER a question of either/or, we always need an integral approach to content across all platforms.
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:49 am
Yeah, you people at the Chicago Reader need to stop complaining and lower your standards! You work for the Loaf now so don’t strive for excellence; crap is just fine! You should be happy you have a job so stop trying to make changes for the better…just get on the Loaf program…trust us, we’ve been eating crap in Tampa for a long time and you really get used to the taste after a while.
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Wow. Liveliest discussion I’ve seen in a long time. Nice to see so many employees responding, whether pro or con. It may be the most dialogue CL employees across the various papers have ever shared.
Being an ex-employee myself of 10 years, I have plenty of observations (good and bad), but I think everyone has covered most of them, some more eloquently than others. No need to retread.
Though the fate of the company at large no longer concerns me professionally, the fate of the individual employees will always be on my mind. It was an honor to work with all of you, and I wish you nothing more than good decision-making in regards to your future with the company.
May those decisions, whatever they may be, bring you peace of mind.
April 2nd, 2009 at 2:25 pm
Hi, my anti-spam word is “enjoy.”
Joran’s post is interesting; one question, though: All this SEO business is great, but aren’t we talking about a piddling amount of revenue that results from it?
I’m happy to put my stuff on Facebook, Twitter, etc.–and I do–but I’ve yet to hear of any media organization making real money from any of this SEO biz. I mean, the vehicles themselves (Twitter, Facebook) don’t make a dime, and neither do superaggregators like HuffPo. CP’s Web advertising has gone way up, but it’s still a pittance compared to what print brings in.
Right now it seems like all that’s at stake is bragging rights. If the idea is to pump up Web stats to attract more investment, which means more debt, which means more debt service, which inevitably means more layoffs, and so on, and so on, then maybe the charmers who keep telling “naysayers” to jump ship have a point. Because that IS a race to the bottom.
I guess my question is, are we talking about how to make thousands when we need to make millions? And how do we assemble a coherent Web strategy without gutting the papers?
I agree with Kelli (and hey!). It’s great to talk about this stuff within the company. We could have used a lot more of this. And a lot less of “go back to flipping burgers.” I _really_ hope that person isn’t someone in this company.
–Andrew
202-332-2100 x. 249
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:00 pm
I’ve thus far refrained from commenting here about CL since being let go, but this thread is too good to pass up.
@Joran — You’re spot on when you write “It’s not a candy bar anymore, and don’t sell it as a candy bar.” Problem is, a lot of the comments prior to yours make clear that people like Jerome and Loaf Employee and No One Listens still want to be in the “candy bar” business. And by that I don’t mean a news outlet devoid of tweets, but one that still has the resources to produce quality journalism.
I think it’s great that Loafer, Not Necessarily a Loyalist, James and Mickey are reaching out to their disenchanted colleagues and encouraging them to take ownership of the paper and work toward making it the best it can be.
However, if those same workers find that, despite their best efforts, they’re not able to produce the kind of work they can be proud of, then Start Anew offers good advice: leave, find the brightest minds to work with, and start a publication you can be proud of.
In the meantime, I second Alex’s wise counsel: Update your resume, learn new skills and prepare for a job where you can excel.
April 3rd, 2009 at 9:11 am
Weird to see someone cite Alvin Toffler . . .
April 3rd, 2009 at 10:35 am
@jennie eason, re: Craigslist
“Mom starting working on a Craigslist application when Craig was in elementary school. Her downfall was her choice of developer and the limited development software at the time. I believe Microsoft had just released Windows 3.1, to give you an idea of how long ago that was.”
Craig Newmark, the founder of Craigslist, was born in December of 1952. Assuming he was never held back, he would have finished elementary school in 1963.
There was no Microsoft in 1963. There were no personal computers in 1963. Ergo, your mother was not developing a Craigslist application in 1963. Your inability to get even simple facts straight is why I’m worried about the future.
April 3rd, 2009 at 11:54 am
@Mike @Jennie —
Good one, Mike. I, too, wondered why the elder Ms. Eason would be developing a free classified system that would undermine her entire business model. But I guess her son has finally figured out a way to do that.
Anti-spam word: whoa
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:55 pm
In Sept 2005, while Atl editor Ken Edelstein and I were working on a package of stories about the devastation caused by Katrina in New Orleans (I’d been down there covering it), Ben walked into the newsroom in Atlanta and announced that there would be “no Bush bashing” at his newspaper (how could you write about the horror that happened in NO without bashing the incompetence of the administration?). That began my process of thinking about life after CL, where I’d worked at that time for a decade. The retooling of the sales staff seemed designed to crush their motivation. Corporate schemes were popping up and being discarded at an almost daily rate. Some of Ben’s advisers were truly Rasputin-like. We went through 7 publishers in 4 or 5 years (Scott W., the other Scott, the guy who was there 9 days, Ben-as-publisher, the guy who didn’t show up, Dave Schmall, Luann). Then came the Chi and DC deal. CL’s very prestigious board of directors didn’t want any part of it and resigned. As a person, I like Ben a lot and hoped for him and all of the CL staff that the deal wouldn’t fail. But my strong belief, and the belief of many others who had been sane managers at CL, was that the deal had no chance at all. Ben always had quirky ideas about content — many horrible (as in how not to pay for content) but many very good. I saw an accelerating abandonment of any commitment to content after 2005, and the financial crisis of the company also accelerated. The issue now is whether someone who so badly misjudged the outcome of the Chi and DC deal is the best one to make decisions that will determine if CL has a future.
BTW, this is rich: My anti-spam word is “loaf”.
April 3rd, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Andrew Beaujon writes:
“I’ve yet to hear of any media organization making real money from any of this SEO biz… neither do superaggregators like HuffPo.”
To clarify: SEO (search engine optimization) broadly just means optimizing your site to be search-engine friendly. For a not-great real-world analogy, it’s like distribution – you put your paper boxes in the best places in town, and make sure they look interesting and that the cover’s good. Even if the monetization is difficult, it *does* improve your reach as people become more dependent on Google.
Re “aggregation,” it’s worth noting openly that one of the things that worries people – even web-generation people like me – is that a lot of “superaggregators” like Huffpo and the -ist sites do a lot of aggregation for the sole purpose of aggregating, and it feels sleazy.
So when people are skeptical of it, it’s not just questioning whether it’s financially viable; it’s also that the prospect of rewriting other people’s articles for 75% of a site’s content, or just stripping the first two paragraphs, is an emotionally and morally unappealing prospect. I see sites like that and it just makes me sad.
April 4th, 2009 at 9:52 am
So..
How much money was spent in this legal tussle? And who’s paying the bill?