George Le Masurier, publisher of 2 McClatchy weeklies in the Puget Sound area, has been named president and publisher of The Olympian. He replaces John Winn Miller, who resigned earlier this year. More here.
I predict his main focus will be to continue moving operations to The News Tribune in Tacoma.
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9 comments:
So we got this new publisher that we not only do not need but do not want. He earns around 200k how many jobs were lost to cover this?
I am so discusted right now i find it hard to keep working.
only $200K? Poor guy. Most of 'em pull in around half a mill.
Oh to know what his MBO bonus structure is.
And with such an extensive background of being an aggressive government watchdog in, um, er, Gig Harbor ... I'm sure he'll devote all his energy to keeping close tabs on the state Capitol.
Seriously, this doesn't speak very highly of MNI's commitment to keeping an actual newspaper in the capital city.
Ten bucks to the first person to catch him on tape referring to Gov. "Greg-or-ree."
I know Wortel gets to drive a BMW.
Wow, a new publisher. Huh. Didn't think that was going to happen.
The first question that comes to mind is, "To what end?"
I don't think that's an unfair or overly cynical questions, either. It looks like in a few weeks The Olympian will all but cease to exist as a meaningful, independent entity.
Yes, a product will be printed, with the words "The Olympian" across the top, and the dazed, demoralized skeleton staff who remain will trudge ahead and make the best of things.
The stories will be written from the area; what ads that are sold will still be sold from there.
But it's not going to be any kind of cohesive entity, not like it has been. How can it be? How will even a simple staff meeting be held?
So over what precisely then is this new publisher presiding? Is he just gonna sit in a fancy office within an empty building sending emails all the livelong day? Solely as a practical matter, it seems like such a waste that the mind is forced toward more cynical avenues.
They couldn't be just using the husk of a century-old company merely to generate a six-figure salary slot for as long as possible, could they? That's just too out there to even consider, right?
The people on the ground work way, way too hard for that. Way too hard.
Can anyone figure out what the plan is?
I believe the plan is to chip away at The Olympian until every one of its subscribers is receiving the TNT. Since the daily zero went to Tacoma, there has been an ever-increasing amount of TNT articles printed in it. At the last meeting a few days ago, one of the TNT higher-ups told us in no uncertain terms that The Olympian and TNT would start looking more alike(typeface, etc) soon.
The really sad thing is all of this is that all of us that were given the option to transfer to Tacoma or be laid off, are going to be the first laid off in this latest round.
Can also tell you Wortel has a 5,300 sq ft house built in 2007 valued at $678K in one of the very posh-est well-to-do suburbs of Fort Worth.
hehe...it isn't worth that now.
WTF does The Olympian need a publisher for? The entire thing will be but a small bureau of the News Tribune in a few weeks, with most of the work done by those of us who have been transferred to Tacoma, or will transfer. The Olympian will remain in name only, and McCrazy is going to pay some dude $200,000 to be the publisher? How about using that money to re-hire people who actually, you know, do something productive?
What an embarrassing move by a company that has shown the business sense of a lemming.
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