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Washington Times Fires Editor; ‘National Search for a Permanent Replacement’

Posted on | November 20, 2010 | 10 Comments

Interesting news about my former employer:

Sam Dealey will be stepping down as editor of the Washington Times, following the sale of the paper to a group led by members of the paper’s old guard who were ousted a year ago, sources close to the paper tell POLITICO.
Dealey was informed this afternoon. The change is scheduled to be announced tonight. Sources say that Managing Editor Chris Dolan will step in as acting editor-in-chief while the paper’s new owners conduct a national search for a permanent replacement. . . .

Probably looking for someone with reporting and editing experience who knows how to boost online traffic, stuff like that.

UPDATE: Fishbowl DC: 

[I]t remains unclear what kind of talent the struggling paper can attract.

You’re freaking kidding me, right? Editor of a daily newspaper in the Capital of the Free World?  Lots of people would crawl through glass for a chance like that.

UPDATE II: Romensko has the press release from the newspaper:

A national search for a new editor will take place in the coming weeks to identify and recruit a newsroom leader to carry out future plans for The Washington Times.
These plans call for The Washington Times news coverage to expand with the return of sports, metro and entertainment sections. These will complement the Times’ respected coverage of government, politics, national security, intelligence, economics, geopolitics, culture/religion and opinion that has been its strength over the past 28 years.
The Times also will increase the availability of its content through multiple media channels, including washingtontimes.com, radio and television.

Permit me to offer six simple suggestions:

  • First things first: Hire an editor-in-chief, with authority over the whole paper, like Wesley Pruden had. When they hired John Solomon (which was when I quit), they split the job, so that Solomon was only in charge of the news side of the operation, while the opinion/commentary sections were under separate editorship. This diminished the stature and authority of the top editor, who no longer spoke for the paper as an institution, as had been the case when Pruden was the boss.
  • Second: Run lean and mean. Rather than hiring a bunch of full-time staffers, hire freelancers under contract — and short-term contacts, at that. Offer a 90-day contract at, say, $2,000 a month plus productivity bonuses based on the number of articles published, the number that make the front page, the number that get Drudge-linked, etc. You can get a heckuva lot of reporting a lot cheaper that way — saving money on health insurance, benefits, etc. — and the reporters who make a good showing under those terms could then be considered for full-time openings if and when those become available.
  • Third: Bring back Andrew Breitbart as a weekly columnist. The stupidest thing that John Solomon ever did was to let Breitbart go.
  • Fourth: Hire Shirley & Banister to do your publicity. They’re the best, and the total cost will be less than whatever you were paying your “marketing” department. Exactly what the heck that department was supposed to be doing all those years, I honestly don’t know, but it wasn’t working.
  • Fifth: Give Victor Morton a raise. God knows he deserves it.
  • Sixth and finally: Stop getting scooped on your own beat. Why is it that the best place to learn about personnel decisions at The Washington Times is always Fishbowl DC? If who gets hired and fired at the Times is so doggone newsworthy, why isn’t the Times reporting this stuff first?

Just some suggestions. Not that I know anything about the newspaper business or anything like that . . .

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Category: Journalism

Comments

  • Paul Zummo

    Give Victor Morton a raise. God knows he deserves it.

    Hear Hear!

  • http://twitter.com/sdo1 Steve in TN

    There are a passle of laid off/fired/RIF’d publishers and editors looking for a job right now. The Times should be able to get the pick of the litter.

    The newspaper industry is in it’s death throes or something very similar.

  • http://twitter.com/sdo1 Steve in TN

    An additional thought: Perhaps the Times will bring back the sports desk… Big time bad decision to ax it.

  • http://warlocketx.wordpress.com/ Ric Locke

    Unh huh. And I have no experience whatever in Teh Newz Bidness, but I have advice, too:

    –Forget opinion. That’s one of the main things that killed newspapers in the first place. Opinion is cheap compared to reporting, and that looks good to a bean-counter, but there are so many alternative sources across the spectrum of opinion that it’s a buyer’s market, and the bids approach zero.

    –Hire reporters. The starvation-salary-plus-piecework model will probably work well. Tell them their job is finding things out and taking comprehensive notes, and tell them emphatically that if they find out something and sit on it for any reason they will be fired with prejudice.

    –Hire writers, although their official title will probably be something in “editing”. Their job is taking the reporters’ notes and turning them into coherent, readable accounts, a talent you don’t always find in a good reporter. Make them allies of the reporters by paying them a larger base and a smaller but significant piecework bonus, and give them the same negative incentive — if they sit on something good they’re out.

    –hire researchers. Pay them a flat and relatively-good salary with negative bonuses — if something comes up on a matter they’ve researched that they didn’t find, they get gigged.

    Opinion is a waste of time. The only thing a news organization brings to the table that isn’t better provided elsewhere is reportage. You don’t want to be a source of opinion. You want to be the go-to guys the opinion is about.

    Regards,
    Ric

  • http://www.facebook.com/jeff.weimer Jeff Weimer

    Stacy, put in your resume and tell it to them like you did here. They can only say no, right?

  • CountVikula

    How much could I buy the Washington Times for? I assume the purchase price would basically be a big pile of liabilities and a few nominal assets with the brand intangible being fairly nominal too. Anyone hear how much it was being shopped for a few months ago? I swore they were trying to sell it.

  • Joe

    The Washington Times should hit your tip jar for that sage advice!

  • Joe

    CountVikula, Rev. Moon and some editors bought the paper for $1 from Moon’s son, which BTW is the same price that Newsweak just sold for.

  • Ejenkins

    #4 Craig Shirley on a project is the absolute definition of persistence. Good call. Good advice.

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