Oh, my.
More not-so-good news about the new Star-Advertising, this time from Joan Conrow on Kauai, who has previously written for both the Star-Bulletin and Advertiser.
Joan describes in detail how the management of Oahu Publications, which owns the Star-Advertiser and MidWeek, reacted to a post in her “Kauai Eclectic” blog containing her initial assessment of the S-A.
She does speak her mind.
Please excuse this lengthy excerpt, then read Joan’s complete entry:
My tenure with MidWeek newspapers was also short-lived. Just as the premiere Kauai issue was being distributed, I was being told they wished to “sever our professional relationship,” which was the only relationship we had.
It wasn’t me, since I’d already been lauded for my “professionalism and enthusiasm,” or my work, which was termed “outstanding,” but this blog, or more accurately, a critical observation I made about the debut of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, which is owned by the same man who owns MidWeek.
“You shouldn’t have called the paper manure,” the messenger told me.
I didn’t. I called it “the hybrid of the two mediocre Honolulu dailies,” which it arguably is. The manure reference was to the lead editorial, or more specifically, a few lines in it:
“We will strive mightily to be on the side of angels. We will work constantly to do, and shout, the noble thing.”
And as I pointed out to the messenger, their reaction to my comment was proving me true.
But the decision had already made, by “higher ups,” the messenger said
“How high?” I asked.
“All the way to the top,” I was told.
It seems they feared my comment “could affect the paper’s profitability.”
“It really took me by surprise,” I told a friend later.
“Why, because the retribution was so quick?”
“No, that they find me so threatening.”
Besides, I told the messenger, I used to criticize The Advertiser all the time when I wrote for Kauai People, which Tiser published, and they never said a peep.
“Well, this is a whole new order,” I was told.
I read the above to Meda as we’re sitting here over coffee. She listened, stunned.
“That’s more than just a little bit creepy!”
I’ve heard references to that “new order” phrase a couple of times already.
It appeared in an anonymous comment on this blog earlier in the week:
As a matter of fact the biggest problem the old SB had was a lack of accountability and consequence.
“New World Order” is a phrase that has been bandied about in the newsroom for the last few weeks. It is here.
I obviously don’t know the background, but the “new order” sounds a lot like Gannett’s management style, the one that journalists (including those at the Star-Bulletin) loved to hate. Have they forgotten? Or have they just “grown into the role?”
Anyone want to take a stab at updating that Hitler satire to reflect this “new order”?
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Sorry, Ian, I sympathize with the SA. After all, why bite the hand that feeds you???
I wonder how just about any company mgmt would take someone who works for them calling their product “manure”. It is a priviledge to do work for someone…not a right. I’m 100% sure if I posted something like that about where I work and my boss sees it…I’m toast. Get real. Welcome to round 2 of “social media”…..
i wish i still found this shocking, but it doesn’t surprise me at all…. sigh.
Im with Gigi and COL on this. Thats why you never read me writing about where I exactly work, what I exactly do, revealing company secrets, or pooping on the boss – even if my personal and professional opinion may be otherwise. Thats for me to complain to them, not to whine to all of you. Besides, you all complain enough about them for me, anyways. Joan probably could have just let others do the talking & complaining – and she would still have her job.
The New World Order b.s is stupid though. SA should nip that because it does make them sound terrible. That the messenger to Joan’s termination obviously perpetuated is not good either. Manage with Aloha is the best way to build a productive loyal team, Ive always found. Its a lot more fun to come to work too.
That all said, the SA website still needs work. I dont like the blog-roll. Its a confusing mish-mash. Above all, where is Derrick?
Today, at least, you can find Derrick in the “In Politics” blog, in a box with other blogs on the rioght hand side, next to “Business” and “Features.”
That is, when he posts. For now B.J. Reyes and Borreca are posting his stuff because of “technical issues.” And it opens in a new window with a “Star-Bulletin” masthead.
Oh, those pesky little kinks in the system.
The “don’t bite the hand that feeds you” line was also used by the messenger. But it’s not like they were just giving me hand outs. My work was also feeding them. Too many workers seem all eager to buy into the “it’s a privilege to have a job” philosophy rather than remembering it’s a reciprocal relationship.
And making an observation about an editorial in a newspaper that one doesn’t even write for is not quite the same as “revealing company secrets” and “pooping on the boss.”
If employment is a reciprocal relationship, then your occupational significant other decided that they didn’t want to have the relationship anymore.
The fact of the matter is that there are very few companies where a single individual is so important to the success of a company that their departure will be felt beyond the first 6 months. I’ve had a lot of jobs in my life, and I like to think I did a pretty darned good job at all of them. At the same time, the sky never fell when I left.
So from the calculus of the powers that be, the decision was likely “Let’s go get somebody else that can do the same thing, except without the bad-mouthing us part.” And your comment about having bad-mouthed the Advertiser all the time in the past doesn’t help you. To outside eyes, you’ve got a history of not supporting the team.
Like most relationships, I suspect that both sides will soon be telling everybody that breaking up was the best thing about the whole relationship. Certainly it sounds that way from your perspective. I mean, you wouldn’t go back if they offered you the job, would you? So everything works out for the best in the end.
Crikey. This NWO thing that you’re emphasizing is just silly. This is no directive from the company, or a phrase that’s being encouraged at all.
It’s simply a funny phrase that is being thrown around by journalists from both papers, part of the dark humor that any reporter would use to deal with a situation like this. It’s nothing to be taken seriously at all, and not at all indicative of any oppressive or totalitarian atmosphere.
I’m with those that agree that she showed poor judgment. Given that we are still in the very early days of the Star-Advertiser, it was not right for her to address her criticisms so publicly. This is like opening a new store at Ala Moana, and 15 minutes in an employee walks to the front door and tells people coming in “don’t come in, its a disaster in there.” I’d fire that person on the spot, too.
That being said, I’d say its a disaster in there.
It’s more like a New World Disorder. SB management types like Bridgewater took a month of vacation as the merger was underway, arguably the most important time of their professional careers, leaving underlings to work seven days a week on the transition in addition to their daily jobs. And then when the SB managers got back from vacation, they fired the people who did the actual work.
The premise of a fear based product and work environment is being well established from the start. The lack of courage to fullfill a neccesary service to the community will insure the eventual demise.
Congrats Joan for always giving voice.
Dean Little
If there had been blogs at the time I was at the Advertiser and Joan had written that, I’d have let her go without a second thought.
We all expect public loyalty from people who take our money.
“the hybrid of the two mediocre Honolulu dailies,” which it arguably is. ”
Yes! You are correct. It IS arguable! I argue that the SB was not mediocre. I thought it continually brought us what we wanted and needed to see, for the most part.
“I am bummed that some really good people are jobless right now, ”
It is for many reasons, and this one, that I never thought the Star Bulletin anything near “mediocre”
Ohhh….Badtizer, You might as well just put your name on it. We all know who you are. Kinda obvious. Heaven forbid if someone discussed your own stellar work habits….
I work in a small office and asked the 4 people I work with thier opinion of the “dissent” and they all said she deserved to be let go. But the good news for Joan is now she is free to sling her mud all she wants.
I have been away from things for about a week. I haven’t read many of the stories and I have not kept myself up to date.
From this perspective, I would like to share my “feel” of things. I hate the Star Advertiser combination and I hate the web site.
I have no interest in Civil Beat and I gave up on television news years ago.
Let me declare the winners here: powerful interests that can exploit a “small” media town.
Now more than ever, the power of the pen is needed. But the avenues of publication are in a period of the “dark ages”.
I urge everyone, to please keep the faith — because in the end, we will win this one.
I’m not surprised that any opposing voice would quickly be slammed shut. I’m hu-hu on principle, but I do agree that the writer’s comments would have been more wisely broadcast from an independent blog rather than one directly associated with the media she worked for.
But Kauai Eclectic is an independent blog unrelated to the work she was doing for MidWeek, as I understand it.