TAB editor Andy Levin posted a comment on this thread in response to this announcement from GateHouse media’s Lisa Strattan about changes at the company. I believe Andy’s comments are important enough that I’m starting a new thread here:
I don’t want to keep any of the TAB/Wicked Local Newton readers guessing as to what is coming next week and going forward.
Being the editor of the Newton TAB these past couple years has been a great pleasure, a tremendous honor and the job of my life. I love this city and I loved, truly loved being editor of its paper of record. I have never felt that way about any job.
Beginning next week, though, I will no longer be the editor of the Newton TAB. Indeed, all of our roles at Wicked Local will be changing, as part of the “digital first” relaunch mentioned in Lisa Strattan’s article. None of our publications will have an “editor” per say, though in some cases the person who had served in that role will still have a direct connection to the paper. In my case, and others, the connection will be much less direct, with reporters – now “multimedia journalists” – picking up many of the responsibilities formerly handled by editors. And former editors – many of them “senior multimedia journalists” – producing more stories and other content. The print production is being handled by a separate group, a “print team” if you will.
I arrived at the TAB in a bit of an unusual situation, as part of the management team. Under the new system my role will be “deputy director of multimedia,” managing the Boston “team” that includes Newton, Brookline, Wellesley, Needham, the Parkway papers and Allston-Brighton.
I’m confident this new system will result in more content both online and in print, mainly because former editors will be able to write and get out in the community more.
The other good news (for me, anyway) is that my connection with the TAB will not be completely severed: I will be working closely with Jonathan Dame (your new “go to” for news) and will actively be involved in the editorial decision making process. And I live here, so you can still expect to see me around at community events.
Finally, I’ll still be contributing my column and editorials… NVA and Charter Commission, you’re not quite rid of me yet!
Life goes on in the Garden City….
You should start your own paper. Screw WickedLocal.
Gatehouse has about as much commitment to this city as the School Committee has to changing high school start times.
Things were looking up. Andy Levin and Jonathan Dame saved the Tab from a dark time. I am pessimistic about the future. If the Tab loses its local focus it is worthless. “More content both online and in print” is not the same as “More high quality content.”
I don’t know if this news from Gatehouse makes me more incensed or sad.
@Andy: I’m sorry that this has happened to you and the Newton TAB. It sucks. I respect your loyalty to GH but I think you’re trying a positive spin on what is awful news. Like Jeffrey wrote, more content does not equal local content.
A couple of comments about Gatehouse and what Lisa Strattan wrote:
They have? Newsrooms are ridiculously stressful but I don’t know very many journalists who are self-important enough to think that their work in a newsroom is life or death. If GateHouse execs think the work their journalists do is so grave, you’d think they’d compensate them something close to accordingly.
Knowing Gatehouse and its history, I think it’s likely that staff is being asked to do more work for the same amount of money. To my knowledge, GH hasn’t given raises to journalists in more than nine years. People should understand that Jonathan Dame could probably make more money working at Starbucks and that he’s way too good to stick around for much longer. It won’t be long until the Newton TAB is basically a shopper with a couple of stories written by someone who has never set a foot in Newton.
In turn, there will be no one to keep an eye on what’s being done with our tax dollars.
I can’t for the life of me imagine why advertisers waste their money.
First the photo department … Now the editors …..
Gail speaks the truth about this situation. Jonathan Dane is a talented reporter and I don’t know why he’d remain with Gatehouse Media. I rarely agree with Andy Levin on issues (and I’m not talking about the charter commission at this point) but respect his opinions and value having a local media presence.
While I don’t always agree with you Andy, I am very sad to see such drastic changes. Times are changing, and unfortunately part of those changes is more and more communities losing local news. I hope you’re right that we’ll end up with more local news, but this sounds to me like the only place this ends is less focus on real reporting and more focus on soundbites and social media.
Blogs like this, I have no doubt, will eventually fill some of that void.
But many of our neighbors aren’t as web savvy as some of us, and unpaid bloggers will never take the place of old school investigative reporting.
I have faith that something will come in to fill the void, I just hope it happens sooner than later.
The Tab is so central to life in Newton that it’s really scary to think of a future without it. This is obviously happening in countless other communities, and something will eventually fill the void. However, no blog or website will ever be read by the entire community (or most of it) like the Tab has been.
Andy. I’m truly sorry for this change. This is a real come down from the days when the letter’s section of the old Newton Graphic allowed anyone’s thoughts and opinions to reach virtually everyone in this City. Communications technology in newton and beyond is far more advanced than it was then, but it is so dispersed, overloaded and fragmented that it’s virtually impossible to frame issues and varying positions in one or two central sources that trickle down to the entire community. What’s happening to the Newton TAB now is being repeated in hundreds, maybe thousands, of communities across America.
I know you are trying to put a good face on this, but you, Jonathan and the other members of your staff deserve far better treatment. I haven’t always agreed with your editorial positions, but I appreciate the warm sensitivity you brought to many issues and the deep love you obviously have for this City. I also appreciate your openness. I don’t know how many times I called your office and got to you directly instead of being shuffled to an answering machine. And you also took time to debate with me about this or that matter. Finally, thanks for the fair coverage you gave to the Newton Bernie Sanders campaign. You gave us a lot of space and photos in the beginning when we really needed all we could get, and you seemed pleased at what we were doing even though I never knew who you were supporting.
Bad news indeed. Regardless of what comes next, thanks Andy and JoNathan for your great work and commitment during your times in your curent positions.
I particularly loved andy’s passion and willingness to wade right into the middle of local issues, particularly ones,that were,sure to raise plenty of hackles.
Good luck with whatever comes next
First, and most importantly, my sympathies to all staffers of the Newton TAB who may be affected (adversely) by this transition. I can definitely relate: Quite some years ago, I lost my job when the newspaper I was working for was bought out by a competitor (the TAB, ironically).
It’s interesting, and somewhat poignant, to muse on how the weekly community newspaper model has changed over the years. My first job was at a Central Mass. weekly that for a long time had been a “shopper,” i.e., consisting largely of school honor rolls and menus; weddings, engagements and other social news; local sports league results and standings; minutes of area civic clubs and organizations; and unedited announcements from municipal offices. Then, with demographics changing (i.e. influx of higher-income, higher-educated professionals) the paper decided to ditch the part-time, local correspondents and hire full-time professional journalists (like me) to cover town news and write feature stories. This didn’t necessarily sit well with some longtime residents, who decried the marginalization of honor rolls and social news — where, they would ask, is “all the good news”?
But plenty of other people, natives and newcomers alike, were quite pleased with this new model. They might not have agreed with how the paper covered this or that story, but they at least appreciated that somebody was scrutinizing what the town government was doing. And even covering “bad news” (crime, car accidents, corruption), they felt, provided for a more realistic picture of the community.
So now, perhaps this model is ebbing away too? A commenter above even speculated on the TAB eventually becoming a “shopper” — quite ironic.
Good luck, everybody.
Bad news for Newton. That’s for sure.
Good luck to you, Andy. I will try to stay optimistic about your view of things to come.
I hope we get some more great local news reporting from Jonathan Dame – he is such a good journalist I’ve wondered for quite some how long he would stay.
Are any of the GateHouse changes affecting delivery schedules? Nobody on my street in Upper Falls received the TAB yesterday or today. Our usual delivery day is Wednesday.