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To The Staff

By Jeffrey Frank.
The newspaper business is in crisis. The Sentinel's internal personnel memos might help explain why. Read the full story.

Part One

April 1st To: Our newsroom staff From: Ray Featherington, Editor in Chief Re: An announcement...   Read More >>

Part Two

In memo one, from April, Sentinel editor-in-chief Ray Featherington announced the promotion of Gloria Duchain ("a passionate reader of hardcover books, both fiction and non-fiction") and Todd Masterman ("a keen student of our business and, so he claims, the blogging world") to assistant managing editors. And that, predictably enough, set the newsroom gossiping, as Gloria's divorce from managing editor Buddy West had been front page at the water cooler for years.   Read More >>

Part Three

Turns out Buddy West couldn't work with Gloria, his ex-wife, after all. One prank involving her desk and a water cooler later, Buddy was headed for early retirement from the Sentinel. As for the new managing editor, Arnold Flange, Ray assured the staff that he was "sure you will like him when you get to know him better." In the meantime, Gloria left the management team and returned to the copy desk, while Todd was working hard to get a blog on the Sentinel's web site.   Read More >>

Part Four

The previous six months at the Sentinel were a time of change. Ray retired and was replaced by Arnold Flange as editor in chief. Young Jerry Mortallos soared into the managerial ranks -- challenging Todd, who was still trying to hit on the right blogging strategy -- and started going by Gerald. As for the rest of the staff, well, the paper opened a career center to help reporters evaluate their skills and find other professions.   Read More >>

Part Five

Ray's retirement was, ahem, short-lived, as he landed in the hospital rather than the shores of Maine. Meanwhile, the new management team of Arnold and Gerald tried to hold the paper together by running it into the ground. In a pioneering move, they eliminated the Tuesday edition. And in a dangerous move, the Sentinel relocated to a neighborhood that's "not desirable, or even safe." Not everyone made the trip, as the layoffs continued and finally claimed Todd, who never could get that blogging operation off the ground.   Read More >>