390 CONGRESS STREET

Another departure from the Press Herald

By Sam Smith

Going-away parties for Press Herald employees are the moveable feast of Portland these days, convening at bars around town with a regularity much more sobering than the events themselves. The latest installment was held Friday at RiRa, and the early arrivals were all former employees, a half dozen of them, who grabbed a table at the upstairs bar. They were welcoming into their ranks former business editor John Gormley, a nine-year veteran of Maine’s largest daily newspaper, who resigned on April 4.

Gormley’s departure is notable not only because it represents the loss to the paper of “a journalist of sterling character,” as one of his colleagues described him, but the loss of another of the paper’s assignment editors, the managers who play a key role in shaping the content of the publication. Over approximately the past two years the Press Herald has seen the departure of Alan Mittelstaedt (city editor); Steve Greenlee (features editor); Beth Kaiman (state editor); and Jeff Ham, who recently left his position as metro editor to work at the paper’s copy desk, a position protected by the Newspaper Guild, the union that represents non-management employees. In addition, Curt Hazlett, the paper’s managing editor for three years, left last November. Meanwhile, a steady stream of reporters have also found other employment.

The mood at 390 Congress Street continues to deteriorate as more staffers leave and as contract negotiations between the Newspaper Guild and the paper’s owner, The Seattle Times Company, enter their fourth year. And morale isn’t helped by strong speculation that Gormley’s resignation was forced, a result of reviews conducted late last year by Bob Wall, a management coach from Seattle hired to take stock of the paper’s employees. Gormley would not comment for this story, and a number of Press Herald staffers who were contacted would not speak on the record about their speculation over his departure.

However, former city editor Mittelstaedt, who flew from Los Angeles to attend Gormley’s going-away party, is comfortable sharing his thoughts on the paper’s current management. Like some others, he says, he left the paper for personal reasons. Mittelstaedt is now the news editor at LA Weekly, where he relocated to be closer to his wife’s family.

“Having said that,” he continues, “there is no way any of us would have survived the nasty reign of terror now gripping the place. [Gormley] is a terrific journalist who liked to question things, but the current regime doesn’t care too much for the curious type . . . I can’t believe how quickly the bad regime has ripped apart one of the best regional papers in the country.”

“[Gormley] was well respected and well liked by his staff,” adds business reporter Tux Turkel, a 21-year veteran of the Press Herald. “There is obviously a void with his departure . . . We don’t have any real leadership with business coverage for the time being.”

Assistant Managing Editor Linda Fullerton is filling in for Gormley until a replacement is hired. Dieter Bradbury is filling in as acting metro editor.