Free speech was alive and well in front of the Record Searchlight yesterday. More than 100 people (some estimates guessed as many as 140) gathered to protest what many believe is the paper’s mismanagement and rapid downward spiral.
Some protested my firing. And they expressed love and appreciation for my 10 years of community journalism. For that, I remain humbled and grateful.
Others protested the loss of crucial staff. And they expressed support for the remaining Record Searchlight employees.
Yet others expressed outrage at their local paper’s dwindling staff and shrinking regional content since the arrival of the new publisher, Shanna Cannon.
To recap, recent key editorial losses include the graphics editor, photo editor, managing editor, editor, executive secretary, cops reporter and librarian, not to mention other top talent throughout the company, such as the circulation manager and a slew of employees 55 and older who bailed when they accepted a company buyout.
Silas Lyons replaced editor Kelly Brewer. Shanna Cannon replaced publisher Deb Smiddy.
I sure miss the Brewer and Smiddy team, and their affectionate self-reference as “the yes girls.”
Yes, their doors were open. Yes, they were willing to hear their people out. Yes, they managed with compassion. Yes, they loved this community. Yes, they’d do their best to lead with grace, humanity and kindness, even in a corporate culture.
I didn’t attend yesterday’s rally, but I heard about it. A few things struck me as significant.
Most glaring was what didn’t happen. Neither Lyons or Cannon ventured outside to address the group, which included scores of formerly dedicated readers. (I heard Silas wasn’t even in the building. When the going gets tough, the editor’s nowhere.)
How weird. How cowardly. Ignore the bloated elephant in the middle of the room and leave your underlings to handle the mess.
As one former colleague joked, if those protesters had appeared during Smiddy’s reign, she probably would have worked the crowd and served coffee and Krispy Kreme donuts. But the end of the rally, Smiddy probably would have made about 140 new friends, regained the lost subscriptions and scored some new ones.
Yesterday RS employees were left high and dry to face what must have been an embarrassing and troubling few hours. (Some employees came outside to chat with the protesters.)
But what a missed, golden opportunity for Lyons and Cannon to demonstrate bravery, leadership and grace under fire. What a rare chance to suck it up and listen to the protesters, many of whom cancelled decades-long subscriptions.
Talk about a strange choice, considering they’re in the communications business and all. Talk about a show of indifference and disregard for the newspaper’s people and its community.
Regarding the rally, many people hoped their pleas and protests might convince Lyons to reverse his decision and rescind my firing.
No surprise, that didn’t happen.
But even if Cannon had given Silas the green light to rehire me, I would have turned it down.
For me, returning to work under that regime would be like returning to a burning building and trying to write a really nice story while ignore the falling flaming timbers and toxic gases.
Lord only knows what will happen next.
Will the protesters cause one iota of positive change in the RS?
Will Cannon, who’s yet to publicly defended Lyons throughout this controversy, throw her new editor “under the bus” and make him her handy scapegoat?
Will Silas actually hire another columnist and groom him or her into his dream “metro” writer who’ll dig up dirt on prominent people? And if he doesn’t, then how will he justify firing me for not accepting that new aggressive, hold-people’s-feet-to-the-fire job description?
Will we ever know how many readers cancelled their subscriptions?
Will the RS be further gutted and then sold?
Will the publisher and editor move up the corporate ladder and leave Redding far behind?
Stay tuned.
