I'm going to tread lightly here, because I have a strong tendency to rant on this topic, having been a reporter at the old Louisville Times and then the CJ under the Bingham family for 15 years, and left the building in disgust in 1990, after they killed the Times, batted away a journalist-union movement that I was a part of, and Gannett/USA Today came in the door, led by Alan Neuharth in his sharkskin polyester suit.
But I digress: The Binghams were all about community service. They weathered lots of storms because they stood by their view of the region's moral compass and spoke it loud on the editorial page, while keeping opinion out of the news pages as much as humanly possible. (It's true. I was there. I can testify, because being a hard-left hippie myself, lord knows I tried, but they never let me get away with it.)
Anyway, here's the gist of it: The older Binghams were satisfied to take a 2 percent annual return on investment, and that was enough to make them one of the wealthiest families in Louisville. The younger generation wanted more, and that started the earthquake that led to the sale. Gannett (which Neuharth once said is pronounced "Gan-NETT," with emphasis on the "net") wanted 21 percent, and they wanted it as fast as possible.
To be fair, they did it via early retirement and didn't lay off transition staff (although they strong-armed some eligible folks to take that retirement). I'm told that true layoffs or "reductions in force" have become a regular thing in recent years.
The staff is down to a bare minimum. Even most copy editing is done off-site at regional facilities (and that may answer your specific question, Willie).
The staff that remains is dispirited. Bitter, Overworked. The one thing that amazes me is that they still hit an occasional home run, but it's rare, and the overall product - no longer the state's newspaper of record by any imagining - is almost embarrassing.
Initially Neuharth told us we would be the "jewel in our crown. We'll never change anything. We'll never make you into a little USA Today." We all knew he was lying then. Now the USA Today section is possibly the most professional part of the paper.
Gannett is getting the profit they wanted. And this may help explain why I am so anti-corporatist, although I was probably there before this party started.
Oh, gee whillikers. I was going to keep this short, wasn't I?
Signed, "Bitter since 1990 and loving it"
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