Media

Shea: Memo Shows Big Changes Coming For Free Press

October 22, 2014, 10:42 PM

The Detroit Free Press, owned by newspaper giant Gannett Co., will join the ranks of other publications within the chain remaking their newsrooms, according to a memo to Freep staffers from Editor and Publisher Paul Anger obtained Thursday night tonight by Crain's.

Bill Shea reports: 

While details are scant on any changes to beats or coverage, the memo does outline several senior managers taking on new titles and roles, including recent Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Henderson taking a "more active role in the newsroom" in addition to running the opinion section of the paper.

What the memo doesn't address are layoffs, head count reduction, hiring, or anything about jobs in general. That could come later.

Because the Free Press' editorial staff is unionized, it appears reporters and editors are safe - for now, at least - from the trend of making employees re-apply for their jobs, as other Gannett newspapers have been doing. However, the contract between the newspaper union and the Detroit Media Partnership (which is becoming Michigan.com as an assumed name to market Gannett's Michigan properties for advertising purposes) ends in February 2016. Talks for an extension or replacement deal likely will begin months before that.

An excerpt from Anger's memo:

But let's be clear -- great traffic and reader interaction start with great content. That's what we're all about: Watchdog reporting. Information that informs uniquely, entertains and surprises. Story-telling as only we can do it here. Commentary that emphasizes our leadership role in Michigan. Compelling presentation and visuals on all platforms, print and digital. And we know that the Free Press has always been known for creativity -- doing the darnedest things. Putting on our own TV show. Putting a mayor in jail. Explaining How Detroit Went Broke. Starting the Freep Film Fest. Doing national ground-breaking work on charter schools and how Michigan's governance is mightily flawed.

Shea's take: 

Gannett editors elsewhere have been taken to task, sometimes harshly, for what critics say have been tone-deaf "change is coming" memos that are rotten with buzzwords and jargon that mask layoffs. While Anger doesn't directly address that topic here, and may be unable to because of the organized labor situation, he does take pains to note that future metric-driven journalism will be rooted in quality reporting instead of based on purely chasing clicks (puppies, celebs, gore, and boobs). So that's comforting. Across the journalism industry, there is much internal debate about using metrics to drive what is reported.


Read more:  Crain's Detroit Business


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