Elizabeth Parsons>UPDATED Sunday, Oct. 4:
The Blue Ridge Business Journal continues to make radical changes as it searches for a market niche. I got a call this a.m. from a Times middle manager telling me that BRBJ editor Elizabeth Parsons and office manager Susan Cousins were laid off Friday. They were told they wouldn't be needed any more, and that the Journal was being "reorganized" (again), said the source.
A second source said the publication is "recruiting one reporter and one editor--sounds like it's fulltime from within" to fill Parson's position. An internal memo from Publisher Debbie Meade said veteran editor Dwayne Yancey will direct coverage as another part of his job and apparently he will add a reporter. The publisher's memo said The Times "will envelope [the Journal] into core operations." The Journal's general manager has also been reassigned, according to the memo.
Since Tom Field and I left a summer ago (to found Valley Business FRONT), virtually the entire staff has turned over and what I'm taking away from the changes is an admission of failure that has been obvious for months. Susan was one of two people left on staff who worked with us. Only Michele George Crim remains. She is the Journal's designer who has apparently been retained as a designer in The Times' newsroom.
Elizabeth didn't finish a year as an employee. She was brought in several months after we left. The editorial had been handled by a part-time copy editor from The Times.
The man who is in charge of the Journal, Marc Vosskamp, had told Tom Field after I left that "one of our girls" (as he called them, at the Laker Magazine and Laker Weekly) could easily--in a part-time role--do what I did as editor. He is publisher of those Roanoke Times-owned publications (which are ghastly, by the way).
The BRBJ recently moved into The Times offices from its separate quarters in a building across the street.
The elephant in the room remains advertising sales, though the memo says the Journal will get an accomplished ad manager. Advertising has been down significantly the past year. We have estimated the drop to be 70 percent. Could be a little less or a little more, depending on the deals being offered. The publication itself has been stuck on a small 28 pages per issue for more than a year and most issues have not supported even that size (if a 60 percent news hole is the goal).
Elizabeth is a competent editor who was probably miscast as a business editor, but she worked hard at it and had some successes. Susan Cousins is one of the best office managers I've ever been around. She is thoroughly competent, leads well and has high standards (which tend to annoy less dedicated employees).
Stay tuned. I don't expect this is over yet.
(Here are some responses from the Facebook post. Sharyn McCrumb: "Hmm... you sound like the guy who got off the Titanic when it docked in Cork." Lori White: "yup. called that one around a lifetime ago." Marie Hodge [former Roanoker editor]: "Please tell Elizabeth how sorry I am that this hasn't worked out. She should not feel that she contributed to this situation at all. I'm sure she was never given adequate direction, and she's the kind of writer/editor who needs to be nurtured. [Don't we all?] In the end, that's the best kind of editor to have, if you know how to appreciate her/him." David Perry: "Does Dan Snyder run the RT too?" From one "who couldn’t post this for obvious reasons”: "what on earth is the matter w/ the times? ... the writers who knew something about the valley are gone and the replacements seem to know or care little about their subjects."
(And there was this from Elizabeth Parsons: "Hi Dan (& friends): I prefer "lay off," as that's how it was presented to me. With that slightly persnickety correction aside ;), I wish to extend my earnest thanks to you and to everyone else for the supportive comments I have read and received since Friday. Although I'm not in a position to address any of these comments in this quasi-public forum, please know I do appreciate the concern. On to bigger and better endeavors, right?")
Elizabeth got handed a tough stick, not to mention impossible shoes to fill, and it was to her credit throughout her brief tenure that she sought constantly to make the (poor old) Business Journal reflect the interests, concerns, and insights of a new editor, not just recapitulating or emulating what her predecessor had done, nor, thankfully, did she seem simply to be doing a Times business digest. Hope she lands on her feet in these challenging (to say the least) journalistic times.
ReplyDeleteI can speak from real experience, as a "former", Roanoke Times employee--
ReplyDeleteThe Company "let go", every single person in the department, I worked in. ( including the assistant and regular manager, hired a bunch of morons, that couldn't figure out how to tie their own shoes...
Every fellow employee was either "fired", or were conveniently moved to another department--- in my case, that "claimed" breech of contract, that I committed while on an approved medical leave,that, by the way, the management, and staff, were a big reason, why I had to take a medical leave in the first place!
the Times, lied to cover their own butt--many times over---the first year I was there, the turn-over rate was incredible---try 17 people, left in less then 10 months!
They treated older employees, with 25 years of working there and in one case, she had worked for the Newspaper, 34 years...in a heart beat, she was told to pack her bags--- like a piece of garbage---threw them out to the dogs---a sick company, indeed.
The newspaper, as you might read it tomorrow, is on its way OUT-----a lot sooner, then you can ever imagine...
I say, we need another Roanoke area local newspaper that has the ability to gain 75,000-100,000 in circulation--- it is possible, but not, if they chose to stay the course the current Roanoke Rag has taken----
Watch them fall out of existence---it couldn't happen soon enough.
On a side note, if it were not for VA Tech faithful following, the RT would have been gone a long time ago.
Dan, Thanks for the kind words. It's a tough situation and I can use the support. AKA "Collins"
ReplyDeleteI wonder why they were advertising just last week for a PT editorial asst. for the BRBJ.
ReplyDeleteThat's a shame about the layoffs. These are tough times indeed for journalists & editors.
Susan: A lot of us are on your side. Stay strong and ask for help. Dan
ReplyDelete