Susan Leathers, community editor at the Williamson A.M. bureau of The Tennessean, was laid off today along with five other newsroom employees, according to an e-mail she sent out to staff members.
She wrote: "can't tal= right now but will email or call soon. Gannett sucks big time. But ... I'm going to r=n for Brentwood City Commission! Where one window closes, another opens.
Love,
Susan
Williamson A.M. used to be a strong feature of The Tennessean. But its quality has continued to decline as open positions have not been filled and ad space and pages has severely shrunk. Leathers, who used to be features editor at the downtown Tennessean, came to WAM a few years ago.
She was mainly responsible for the Brentwood Journal publication, and wrote her own column each week.
Last year through three quarters, The Tennessean made a profit of more than 21%.
The ouster leaves WAM with two editors, Mark Cook and Courtney Watson.
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6 comments:
Tim, you say this in your post: "ad space and pages has severely shrunk"
Huh? You base this comment on what?
From Tim Chavez: From reading the section everyday and remembering when I worked down there for seven years when they were putting out 52-page Sunday sections. The last one looked to be 12 pages. Some Sunday centerpieces are now being written by editors and freelancers. Reporter and clerk positions are not filled. The entire ad staff was moved out of the bureau office and back to downtown. The section is a shadow of its former self. People in Williamson County have really noticed from my conversations with them at the grocery store and at church.
The ad staff is still in Franklin Tim. The ad team is very strong and they've had a good year - volume is slightly up, not way down. The 52 page sections you remember ran on Fridays - not Sundays. Friday sections are still bulky. Please get your facts straight before posting. Thank you.
From Tim Chavez: I've been corrected that the 52-page sections were on Fridays, not Sundays. But I guess 12 pages on last Sunday to what I remember were 28 pages on Sundays past still does represent a significant differece. Most of the desks in the Franklin office are empty. The ad staff did move to downtown, as did those from other Gannett papers in Middle Tennessee. Sorry, I can only go by what I've seen.
Tim, looks like you aren't going to publish my comments - that's fine - it's your blog. But please be accurate. Again, the WAM ad staff (supervisor, several sales and support people) work out of the FRANKLIN office - not downtown. Same goes for the other community weeklies. If you stop in the office you will see that. And again, ad volume at WAM is up slightly this year.
2 ad designers moved downtown. The entire sales force is intact in the Williamson office.
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