March 5, 2009

Bristol Press executive editor leaving

We heard from Publisher Mike Schroeder a couple of hours ago that our paper's executive editor, Marc Levy, is no longer with the company. I hope this will help with efforts to transform The Bristol Press.
The editor of The Bristol Press itself, Bill Sarno, remains on the job, fortunately.
Schroeder said we'd likely hear on Friday about Levy's successor.
What does it mean for readers? We'll find out in the days and weeks ahead, of course, but I'm pretty sure that any change will bring less of a New Britain focus to the pages of the Press.
We've had a long run now of executive editors in New Britain who didn't know much of anything about Bristol. They don't really need to know much, when you come right down to it, as long as they recognize their limitations. Regrettably, that hasn't usually been the case.
As for me, I look on this as yet another opportunity to strengthen the Press and push it toward the new day that our newspaper box cards are promising everyone. Let's hope that new day proves bright and sunny.
*******
Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

At least we won't have to read his dumb columns any longer!!

Anonymous said...

I called him once. He hung up on me. He was a snob too.

Anonymous said...

Is he the one responsible for the Sunday paper? Good riddance.

Anonymous said...

He is the Sunday paper editor? Then I'm glad he's gone.

Steve Collins said...

Looks like a veteran Connecticut journalist is replacing Levy. We hear good things about him. More tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

Can't Sarno go too?

Anonymous said...

Steve,
It's not New Britain vs. Bristol anymore. The two papers need to pool your limited resources and work together. The biggest stories should be featured whether they are in New Britain, Bristol, Terryville, Wethersfield, whatever. ... Have two separate front pages but you all really need to work together as one team not two. .. I'm rooting for both of your papers to succeed...

Anonymous said...

Steve,
I can say that I have been reading the paper in one form or another since I was in high school. I think the biggest disappointment was when someone decided to scale back the amount of new covered in Bristol. I often found stories in the Courant that were never covered by the home town paper. I'm glad to here that the paper is doing something that I would think would drive up readership.

Anonymous said...

The Herald was looking better than ever, and better than the Press. Why is Levy gone?

Steve Collins said...

I don't know why Levy is gone. I do know, though, that his successor is one of the most respected editors in Connecticut. I'm not going to break the news, but I'm thrilled with what I'm hearing.
And 9:55 -- It's not a Bristol vs. New Britain thing. It's that I hear from readers all the time that they want to see Bristol news and Bristol front pages and Bristol everything. They don't care about New Britain or Wethersfield.

Anonymous said...

Well Steve,

Bristol readers want all Bristol all of the time. I get that. And the front pages should be Bristol and the surrounding towns.

But from a business point of view, there will have to be a blending. And maybe it occurs behind the curtain. And that's fine because the public doesn't care about how you get the job done.

On another note -- seeing the info about JRC execs getting bonuses for closing papers and laying off employees tells me that they had NO plans at all to sell you guys. Only the state notification law and publicity surrounding it saved the 5 papers. Go get 'em Richard (Blumenthal)

Anonymous said...

March 6, 2009 9:51 AM said:
The Herald was looking better than ever, and better than the Press. Why is Levy gone?

Gee Steve, I guess Levy reads your blog. No one else would write that. But now that he's out of a job, I guess he's got time.

Steve Collins said...

4:51 -- I agree with you.
With the caveat that the hoopla that surrounded our potential closing was mostly generated by us. We worked pretty damn hard to make that happen.

Anonymous said...

Mean-spirited seems to sum up the comments here regarding the departure of exec editor Marc Levy. He doesn't deserve that, and all who worked with Marc know that.
Be happy with his replacement if you must. But consider the method in which this change is being done. Obviously Levy's job was given to someone else, who said they would accept it, before Marc was actually terminated.
Secondly, does anyone pretending to be a reporter in New Britain or Bristol honestly believe Mike Schroeder is really the one making this call? Why do you think the little 'consultant parade' has been perched over everyone's shoulder in the newsroom since even before the deal to buy the papers was inked? Somebody wants to make sure Mike doesn't fritter away their money.
And let me say one last thing about Marc: He was dedicated to his staff, worked long hours in an effort to make these papers better as he saw fit; went to bat for his reporters when they were attacked both from within and without; and had a concern about getting things right and being consistent in style, format, etc.
He had faith in his editors to make actual decisions, and would back them up and deal with the idiot publishers.
Of course he didn't know Bristol well. So he trusted the Bristol staff to come up with their own stories and headlines. And when the Bristol editor abdicated that responsibility, Marc filled in. He ought to be thanked, not excoriated in this blog.
Schroeder is operating just like the JRC regime did. Ham-handed, knee-jerk management didn't work for them, either.
Bristol might erect a statue to this Long Island Lummox, but Levy was a fool if he thought he would last long at the helm of his little experiment.
Considering the comments wielded on this blog of Mr. Collins, this firing might have made more sense coming 10 days later on the official backstabbing holiday, the Ides of March.

Steve Collins said...

1:59 AM -- That's an interesting take on things, to put it mildly.
I'll let it go except to say that "the Bristol editor" never abdicated his responsibility. That's simply untrue.

Anonymous said...

The mayor of New Britain is happy Levy is gone. So are the corrupt city officials who got tired of all losing all those freedom of information hearings.

Anonymous said...

It's 2 a.m. do you know where your EX editor is? HA! Levy, what's the matter, can't sleep? Up at night, alone in the dark, typing away anonymously on this blog?
You are a pathetic joke. Went to bat for people, my butt. You took a bat and BASHED people who were doing honest work and never uttered a kind word. You looked down on everyone associated with the newspaper and didn't deserve the job, ever. You are simply a JRC goon and now we can see that you even looked down on Mr. Schroeder, who took a leap of faith on these papers. He even took a leap of faith on you, but he's a smart guy and it didn't take long before he figured out that you have the JRC mindset of demoralizing staff at every turn. Schroeder talks of making the new company like a family and regards employees as colleagues. You just couldn't grasp that concept, so he showed you the door. The fact that he had someone in place right away shows only that Schroeder didn't act in haste or in anger, but after careful thought. It looks like he made a good choice, too. No doubt the staff will be thrilled to start working for someone decent in that position. It'll be a first.
So the mayor of NB is happy that you are history? Well, then he finally has something in common with the newspaper staff and anyone in the community who has ever dealt with you.
Now stop polluting this blog with your disgusting, conceited comments. We all know it's you, so don't even bother.

Anonymous said...

This is a pivotal time for the Herald and Press. They have been given a second chance at life. It's not hard to see that SOME of the folks working at the two papers aren't exactly the best journalists on the planet. It may not be their fault. The JRC never provided any training for writers or executives. Some learned on their own and some didn't. There are bound to be changes along the way. If I had purchased the paper, I would be bringing in consultants to advise me as well. I'll be interested to see what changes Mr. Smith provides.

Steve Collins said...

9:21 -- You're right that the JRC never valued training or education. I can remember going to conferences that either we paid for personally or were paid for by foundations -- and still having editors angry that we wouldn't be around for a day or two. That's the level of stupidity the JRC routinely displayed.
I have high hopes that we'll once again be able to get out of Bristol occasionally to hear from colleagues around the country about how we could do things better.
Heck, I'm most happy about getting to speak at a conference in Boston this month because of the opportunity it will give me to hear what many others have to say about the future of journalism. These sorts of things matter.