Creative Loafing names new Chief Executive Officer
November 16th, 2009 by Web Editor in Biz, News
This morning, the staff of Creative Loafing Charlotte received the following news release from officials in our corporate office:
TAMPA, FL — A prominent Florida newspaper executive has been named chief executive officer of Creative Loafing, the alternative newsweekly group, its owner announced today.
Marty Petty, 56, is the former publisher of the St. Petersburg Times and the Hartford (CT) Courant. She will succeed Richard W. Gilbert who has been interim CEO since the reorganized company emerged from bankruptcy this fall under the new ownership of Atalaya Capital Management LP, a New York investment firm.
The news was shared with the Creative Loafing staff today through a memo. Creative Loafing (www.creativeloafing.com) publishes six alternative weekly newspapers and other Web sites, such as (www.straightdope.com), in Chicago, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Tampa, Sarasota, Fla. and here in Charlotte.
The announcement of Petty, who began her newspaper career in 1983 at the Kansas City Stay and Times, marks the second significant appointment of a notable news veteran this month; having named James Warren, former managing editor of the Chicago Tribune, to the publisher and president post at the Chicago Reader.
“I’m invigorated by the possibilities to deepen relationships with our readers and advertisers and expand our influence in our communities,” Petty said. “The coverage areas which have differentiated and distinguished the alternative press historically may be more important than ever.”
“This is an opportunity to lead a truly unique company in one of the most economically challenging times we have known. But these remain vibrant markets and it’s a wide open field as all media are challenged to redefine themselves to meet consumers changing lifestyles and information needs,” Petty said.
Gilbert described Petty’s expertise as “an unique mix seldom found in one publishing executive. She has solid journalistic values honed from her early career in the newsroom and her long-standing commitment to hard-hitting journalism. All three of her last papers earned Pulitzer Prizes during her leadership. As publisher of two of the nation’s most highly respected newspapers, she has also earned a reputation as a skilled and creative marketing and sales executive who knows how to build strategic alliances to ensure success. “
In addition to her CEO role, Petty joins the company’s board of directors. Gilbert, who has been at the helm of the business since Atalaya took ownership on August 25, will continue as a member of the board as well.
Creative Loafing is headquartered in Tampa, FL. It publishes six alternative newsweeklies: the Chicago Reader (www.chicagoreader.com) the City Paper in Washington DC www.washingtoncitypaper.com, Creative Loafing/Atlanta, Creative Loafing /Tampa, Creative Loafing/Sarasota and Creative Loafing/Charlotte (www.creativeloafing.com). Its national Web site presence also includes www.StraightDope.com. It has combined weekly print circulation of more than 400,000 copies and monthly online unique visitors in excess of 1.5 million.
Look for more on this appointment later on The CLog.
November 16th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
I hope she takes her job more seriously than the last guy. Censoring the news to favor Obama is not cool. The press is supposed to be skeptical of power. Instead the liberal press including CL has jumped into bed with them. Speak truth to power for a change, or is that only good for people with differening view points?
If I get censored for no good reason again, I will see about bypassing the local CL staff and go right to the top. There is a 50% chance the new leader will have no integrity ( we all know how liberals are ) but there is always HOPE hehe.
November 16th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Frank, you’ve NEVER been censored here. EVER. And I can’t tell you how many readers wanted you censored — but we continue to let you (and every other site visitor) write what you think.
November 16th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
LOL! Frank, your comments are on just about every single post even when you have nothing to say (which is often) and you’re yelling about getting censored.What a laugh!!
My wife and me, who are fans of Obama and Creative Loafing (not a dittohead and hater like Frank), on rare occasion find our comments not going up or disapearing, but we know the ways of the internet and figure it’s some programming glitch. Frank of course thinks it’s some vast liberal conspriracy to take over the world. What a paranoid crackpot. hehe
November 16th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
You guys just don’t want to hear the truth or the other side of the story is all. That is why I provide it to you. Think of me as your parent telling you to eat your veggies.
When a post concerning MEDICARE or OBAMA was made and it was negative the CL would delete it about 50% of the time. I also know its not an accident or glitch because I would repost it about 10 times and it would then be deleted soon after. I made other posts during the same visit and they would still be there. I would also on occasion see a response to my post that had been submitted before they had a chance to delete what I wrote. My posts did not use profanity and many did not even call anyone particular out for lies and misinformation.
Anyways this has been going on for months. I know you guys want to think CL is above this kind of behavior but sadly they are not. Blogs are supposed to support differing views, CL just thinks the Dan Rather school of journalism is better.
Here is a recent example of what I wrote. After the 10th posting it finally stuck for the moment.
”
Obama’s 4 principals will be
making rich people poor
making poor people poorer
bungling the H1N1 disaster
prideful arrogance in foreign policy
how to kill young Americans through bad decision-making and sheer incompetence
”
This was my response to a recent article (2 or 3 days ago) about Bush having some building named after him.
I also think it was just dumb luck that my post survived long enough for you guys to have a chance to respond to it.
Why not ask CL in am email if what I am saying is true or not before you call me a liar. I have some screen shots somewhere to prove my point. I can post online if needed as proof.
November 17th, 2009 at 1:45 am
Frank, think for one second. If CL wanted to censor you to prevent people from “hearing the truth”, then they would delete ALL YOUR POSTS. Yet just quickly glancing through past news stories I see you insulting Obama, liberals, Grooms or other readers in almost every one. So how is exactly is your voice not being heard?
If CL is really weeding out some of your non stop rants, I salute them. It has nothing to do with censorship.Most web sites have people monitoring comments to remove especially hateful comments. I have often gasped out loud reading some of your nasty comments and wondered why the hell CL would leave them up. If there getting rid of many of your more sexist, racist or cruel posts, it just means there finally doing their job. This should be a site for intelligent conversation, not elementary school name calling and hatred.
November 17th, 2009 at 10:41 am
Poor little Trent, If you will read I said they are removing 50% of post that have to do with Health Care and Obama directly. They seem to leave the rest of my stuff alone. For some reason they do not like you to say anything negative about the OBAMAgod. Health care is his current signature issue so it kind rolls back to Obama on this idea too.
I gave you an example of a post they recently deleted many times. I do not think the example I provided was sexist, racist or a cruel post. The post I made was almost identical to what Grooms said about Bush so if it was good enough to post in an article, it should be good enough for a comment.
“I see you insulting Obama, liberals, Grooms or other readers in almost every one”
Obama, liberals and Grooms have a bad habit of committing errors by omission, being wrong or just plain trying to mislead the public. This is why they do not get much love from me. Take a look at how I respond to Tara’s articles. She does not make the kind of mistakes that the losers you mentioned make all the time.
“So how is exactly is your voice not being heard?”
I said my posts in this very select area were being deleted. I did not say all or most of my posts were being deleted. Please read before you speak out.
Like I say to all of my detractors. Why not enlighten us with some of the nasty comments you speak of?
“This should be a site for intelligent conversation”
I think in the 2 years I have been on here, I have only been proven wrong only 2 or 3 times. When I have been wrong I have owned up to it and changed my tune. This is a heck of a lot better than you can expect from most of the CL writers. If you think I have been wrong then please highlight some of these items too.
Its only a matter of time before more people begin to agree with me about Obama sucking. I just happen to be paying attention and was never in love with Obama to start with. It was as clear as day that he was an empty suit and soon most Americans will know this as well.