June 21–28, 2001

media

That Sinking Feeling

Some high-level departures add to the sense of unease in the Inquirer’s newsroom.

by Frank Lewis

Top 10 ways in which the Inquirer is different from the Titanic:

10: The Titanic had a band.

—an e-mail reportedly making the rounds among Inky staffers (see the full list)

The upheaval at the Inquirer got even more upheaving last week when staffers learned that Managing Editor William "Butch" Ward had opted to take early retirement, one of two options that Philadelphia Newspapers Inc. (PNI) has been dangling as a way to reduce the payroll.

The announcement apparently was a surprise to almost everyone. "You go to the bathroom for three seconds," quips Inquirer political reporter Dick Polman, "and the whole world changes."

Rumors that Ward had become intensely frustrated — presumably with the ongoing cutbacks ordered by PNI owner Knight Ridder — began circulating immediately. But Ward denies that. Sort of.

"It was a personal decision," he says. "I’ve reached a point where I’d like to try something else… and to me, it seemed like the right time."

Informed of the rumors, Ward allows that his decision "involved the job I’ve been doing here" and that once he finishes at the Inquirer, on July 20, he’ll be looking for something "where I can make more of an impact." He won’t even speculate on what he might do next, but admits that it probably won’t be in journalism.

He’s quick to note, however, that the decision to leave was not easy, and that walking out of 400 N. Broad St. for the last time after 19 years with the Inquirer will be difficult. "It’s been a great ride," he says. "I learned something from these people every day, and I’ll always be grateful for that."

Deputy Managing Editor Phillip Dixon will succeed Ward. Most staffers interviewed for this article expressed confidence in Dixon, but also noted that Ward will be sorely missed.

"You hate to lose someone like that," says Polman. "It kind of rattled everybody a bit. Or a bit more."

Indeed, these are tumultuous times at PNI, which is looking to lop about 200 jobs companywide through early retirement incentives and buyouts. Inquirer columnist Tom Ferrick recently estimated that 25 to 30 of those bodies would come from the Inky newsroom. Daily News Editor Zack Stalberg hazarded a qualified guess of 10 from his news staff.

But how many would like to leave is another matter. According to Inquirer reporter Henry Holcomb, president of the Newspaper Guild local, at present it looks like PNI will get more buyout applications than it can accept before the mid-July deadline.

"A great number of people are talking about it," says Holcomb. "There’s concern about the continued downsizing, and it’s not just journalists [who are worried]. There’s a broad concern that we’re cutting too deeply.

"The loss of Butch Ward is a serious blow," he adds. "No company should be anything but sad when a program like this takes out someone like Butch."

The mood in the newsroom seems to be getting darker all the time, says Polman, who interviewed at the Washington Post earlier this year but didn’t make a move because of the Post’s hiring freeze. "If you can screen out everything around you," he says, "it’s still a great place to work.… [But] it’s getting more and more difficult to screen everything out. There’s a lot of anger."

Paraphrasing comments he’s heard, Polman says, "How can anyone even want to risk carving into the guts of a public service in order to meet a short-term bottom line? How could they risk gutting the tradition of this newspaper in order to meet the bottom line?"

Others are less pessimistic.

"It’s a stressful period throughout the business," says projects editor Marc Duvoisin. "But it’s a cyclical business, and I imagine a year from now we’ll be through all this and the Inquirer will be hiring again."

But he won’t be around to find out. Duvoisin is leaving around the end of the month to become assistant managing editor of the Los Angeles Times. The offer was made before the current round of buyouts began, he says, and he almost declined for various reasons, not the least of which was his belief that the Inquirer is still a great paper, and will get even better.

"Nobody is happy," says Ferrick. "Nobody likes what’s going on. Nobody likes the departure of Butch Ward or Marc Duvoisin. But this is what happens when you have a product-be-damned attitude on the part of the people who run the corporation.

"That being said, I don’t think that miasma has affected the [quality of the] paper.… Nobody’s pretending it’s been pleasant, but you just have to get through it."

And if it has to get through it with significantly less people? Knight Ridder CEO Tony Ridder has indicated that his papers won’t swell up again when ad revenues rise again and the cost of newsprint goes back down. Ferrick admits that not being able to replace the talent that leaves could become a problem, but still isn’t worried.

"This is still a newspaper that, when all is said and done, will have more than 500 editorial employees."

Whatever the number, they’ll have their work cut out for them. According to figures released recently by the Audit Bureau of Circulation, Inquirer readership took another drop in the six-month period ending in March. Sunday circulation was down 5.3 percent from the same period the previous year (from 804,752 to 762,194). The weekday loss was just under 3 percent (from 404,860 to 392,728).

And the much-ballyhooed revamping of the Sunday edition earlier this year seems to have made little impact thus far. The difference in Sunday circ between the last quarter of 2000 and the first quarter of 2001 was just 366 copies.