April 1st
To: Our newsroom staff
From: Ray Featherington, Editor in Chief
Re: An announcement
Good news! I have asked Gloria Duchain and Todd Masterman to team up to help us run our news operations, and I am thrilled to announce that they have accepted this challenging assignment.
They will share the title of Assistant Managing Editor, a job that has gone unfilled for several weeks and is probably too large for one person. The idea is that Gloria will be responsible for all that we put into the paper -- daily, Sunday, and many of the special sections that we hear so many complaints about. Todd will help out there too, but we want him to focus more on the strategies we need to march into the future -- including the Internet and multimedia. Todd has also spoken about creating and helping to fill a stimulating blogging site, something our Web presence now lacks. Within this basic structure, Gloria and Todd will function as a tight, well-fitted team, collaborating and backing each other up, synchronizing their goals and those of our newspaper.
Todd and Gloria are among the very best in the business. They understand what our readers want and what they expect and how to give it to them over and over again, which is what our business is about. They have the highest personal and professional standards. They know how to listen to a creative staff, and they bring to bear their own special talent in how to lead it. You've all known them as newsroom colleagues. Now, as they become newsroom leaders alongside us, is the time to give them your thoughts!
Gloria has had many separate careers in her seventeen years at the Sentinel. She has been a political writer, a columnist, a superb copy editor, a developer of high-impact projects, a Deputy Assistant Managing Editor, and, throughout, a passionate and sophisticated nurturer of ideas and those who cherish them. She is a passionate reader of hardcover books, both fiction and non-fiction.
Todd has been with the Sentinel since college -- exactly nineteen years this month. He has served as State Editor, Deputy City Editor, Investigations Editor, Deputy Assistant Managing Editor, and, for two years, Special Assistant to the Publisher, with a focus on digital things. His Sentinel roots and values run deep, and so too does his passion for securing our future through strategic and innovative thinking and planning. He is an unforgiving squash player and a keen student of our business and, so he claims, the blogging world.
The Deputy Assistant Managing Editor positions that Gloria and Todd have previously held will not be filled. In adopting this streamlined structure, we are permanently eliminating two positions from top newsroom management. Because there will now be three of us where there had, in effect, been five (yes, five -- if you count those lost jobs as I do, which you may need to think about), Buddy West, our Managing Editor, intends to take on more of the budget and personnel responsibilities that already fell to him, and will otherwise share more of the administrative load with Todd. This will free up Gloria to spend time working on a one-to-one basis with our staff, although I certainly intend to keep my hand in there. (I'm aware of the possible conflicts affecting Gloria and Buddy, who of course will keep their editorial distance. But their divorce was three years ago and, if it was not amicable then, they have given me assurances that they are on friendly terms and can work together effectively at arms length.) Above all, the journalism we do is our first love and the reason we got into the business.
Jerry Mortallos, who comes to us from our sister publication in the western part of the state, will report to Gloria and Todd, with duties to be announced later. You should all get to know Jerry, who is young but thoughtful; he assumes as of today the title of Editorial Coordinator. Other assignments in our newsroom will remain unchanged for the time being.
I mentioned re-invention. Or I should have mentioned it by now, because that is our commitment. I have been privileged to work with all of you to create a fresh newspaper every day. I know you are good at that kind of re-invention. I also know very well the larger re-invention agenda that faces us as we speed up our learning curve and make the smartest, boldest decisions we can make as we figure out how best to give our readers their news and information.
As a staff, you are naturally worried about these rapid changes, and also about the sudden disappearances of people we love. But I'm gratified that you've demonstrated such great enthusiasm as shown by the numerous resourceful ways you perform each and every day simply by showing up. Putting Gloria and Todd under Buddy and me at the helm is the next step in our determined march forward. Our two new Assistant Managing Editors look forward to meeting with the night side staff early next week.
And, by the way, we would very much appreciate it if you nightsiders would manage to show up on time for your shift.
Ray
cc: Buddy West
June 12th
To: The entire staff
From: Ray Featherington
Re: Big news
I am very pleased to announce that Arnold K. Flange will become the new Managing Editor of the Sentinel, effective immediately. Arnold, who has been the Editorial Director of our online edition (working closely, as most of you know, with Todd Masterman, who is working hard to come up with a blog that people might read), will succeed Buddy West, who has now decided that he is leaving completely and quickly after the episode. (We're not taking sides -- who is right and who is wrong -- but the Sentinel cannot permit any employee to empty a water cooler on a fellow employee's desk.) Todd will henceforth assume expanded duties in the online area and also enter Buddy's bailiwick in some yet-to-be-determined ways.
Arnold was selected after a thorough vetting process. He brings an array of talents and experience to the job. He is, first of all, a strong, creative editor who has managed many projects at other newspapers, including two that we hear nearly won a Pulitzer Prize. In addition, his continued direct oversight of our online operation will only help us to develop and refine our vital digital strategy.
Arnold is also known to his friends as a great human person -- thoughtful, witty, a good listener, and a passionate student of state politics. I am sure you will like him better when you get to know him better. He has told me that if any women on the staff have concerns because of what happened in his last job, he will be happy to meet with them privately.
Let me tell you a little more about Arnold's background. He was born in the northern part of the state and raised there. Arnold then went on to Princeton, mostly on student loans, all of which he has repaid. He considered going on to law school, but discovered that his first love was the news business.
Determined to be a journalist, Arnold started as a reporter in Richmond, Rochester and then Orlando, before joining the Sentinel. His multi-part series "Judgment at Orlando," won widespread acclaim despite his other problems. For now, he hopes that our two new Assistant Managing Editors, the diligent Gloria and the determined Todd, will be eager to work closely with him to make the changes that need to be made if we are to continue to flourish.
I know this is not an easy time, and we've all expressed these feelings to one another. After the contretemps with Buddy, we had to use all powers of persuasion to keep Gloria at her post. Uncertainty is never easy. So I ask your help in assuring a smooth transition. Arnold is thrilled to be here, and I am confident he will be a superb leader.
And we do all wish Buddy the best in his future projects, whatever they turn out to be.
Ray
June 13th
To: My friends in the newsroom
From: Buddy West
Some of you have asked whether I was taken by surprise when Ray and I made the mutual decision that I would be leaving the Sentinel. The answer is yes, it hit me right in the gut, where I live, and also no. This was something that we've talked about for some time. I've heard the ugly rumors that my friend and sometime rival Todd and my ex-wife Gloria were eager to see me out the door and down the street, or even that Gloria still hates me because of all the nasty things that were said during our divorce trial and because of my prank with the water cooler. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have been family here, and families have squabbles, and I really do have many future projects. The more I think about them, the more I'm grateful to have the opportunity to leave the Sentinel and to pursue each and every one of them.
Thanks to you for your support and hard work during my twenty-three years at the Sentinel, and for your kind e-mails this morning and yesterday afternoon, even those from the night-side. I know that you'll do for Arnold Flange what you've done for me and that Arnold will soon enough know the stuff that you're all made of.
Good luck and goodbye for good,
Buddy
July 9th
From: Arnold Flange, Managing Editor
To: All newsroom employees
Re: A new position
I'm thrilled to announce that Todd Masterman will assume the title of Chief Deputy Managing Editor, which will put him further in charge of our daily and Sunday paper, as well as our digital strategies. This is a huge job, but Todd is a fellow who has repeatedly proven himself when the going gets tough around here. Just last month, when Buddy took his sudden leave and I was brought in, Todd stepped up to the plate and saw the Sentinel through several tough news days. It was Todd who organized coverage of the fire on Main Street and began the four-part series on sewage that we all hope will win a big prize. He will closely coordinate his duties with me and, of course, with Ray, and we look forward to the time when he gets something into this blogging site he's promised.
Gloria Duchain, who has effectively partnered with Todd for the last several months, has asked to be relieved of her managerial duties and to return to the copy desk. Her request has been granted. There, her shrewd pencil will once more hone our copy and make our stories sparkle. Please welcome Gloria back to this important job.
Arnold
P.S. I am personally asking Todd to take on the extra duty of posting better signs on the doors to the restrooms in order to avoid any further confusion. The symbols we've been using are not nearly as effective as the traditional large capital letters spelling out the words "MEN" and "WOMEN," which will be put up as soon as Todd and the Signage Committee approve.
October 23rd
To: Our news staff
From: Ray Featherington, Editor in Chief; Arnold Flange, Managing Editor
Re: Jerry's new duties
We are pleased to announce that Jerry Mortallos, our Editorial Coordinator for lo! these many weeks, will take on the additional title of Editorial Production Supervisor to reflect his ever-widening duties. Jerry will devote his future energies to improving the look of our product as Todd continues to search for innovative ways to improve the content of our product, and work on the blogging site that he's promised and that we're sure will come together.
Both Todd and Jerry need all the help they can get from every one of you as they face the challenges posed by competitors who, frankly, believe that they have better looks and better contents in their products. We're confident, though, that with hard work and a true commitment, that perception will change. Actually, it will have to.
Ray and Arnold
December 10th
To: Our news people
From: Arnold Flange
Re: Sad news
I am extremely sorry to announce that Ray Featherington, our leader and beloved friend, is leaving the Sentinel and turning the page to another chapter in his life. Ray's tenure here has been long and noteworthy, and his contribution probably cannot be measured in mere achievements. Replacing someone with his depth and breadth was bound to be difficult, and by naming me to the post of Editor in Chief, we've tried to address it head-on.
Fortunately, Jerry Mortallos, who has been worked very closely with Todd Masterman, will assume some of my old duties on an acting basis. This makes me both happy for Jerry and proud of him too. In a very short time as Editorial Production Supervisor, Jerry has proven himself to be a passionate advocate for the values we all share at the Sentinel while coming up with fresh ideas to bring down costs. He has found himself taking on more of the duties of an actual managing editor -- a continuous demonstration of leadership. I believe that Jerry, who will also have the title of Acting Managing Editor, is someone who will inspire your loyalty. In these short months, I have come to depend on his innate judgment in making the crucial and sometimes very difficult decisions that affect us all.
As many of you will learn in due course, Ray hopes to return to his childhood home in Portland, Maine, where he intends to fulfill a long-held dream of writing and hunting, and then writing about hunting. We will all wish Ray well, and we'll be announcing plans for an evening of farewell merriment and appreciation in the near future.
Arnold Flange,
Editor in Chief
February 18th
To: The staff
From: Gerald Mortallos, Acting Managing Editor
You may have heard through the rumor mill that we will be experiencing layoffs in the next few months. Arnie and I wish that we could shoot down those rumors and give you better news, but the financial picture here and everywhere in our industry has become too bleak for mere belt-tightening, although we will ask you to take in your belts a notch or two anyway. The truth is that we will have to get some new belts, and tighten those too.
We hope to meet our reduced staffing goals within the next few weeks. Some of the numbers will come easily through attrition, early retirement, and sudden death. Others, though, will be required to make major sacrifices. Some of you have spoken privately to me of a desire to change careers entirely, and to help you in this exciting choice, we plan to open a job counseling center by the end of the month.
Gerald
April 10th
To: The Staff
From: Gloria Duchain
Re: Goodbye!
After many years at the Sentinel (most of them pretty happy ones), I have decided that it is time for me to move on. Until now, these have often been rewarding times, and some of the friendships I have made at our newspaper will stay with me always. Some, to be completely honest, will not.
I'm sure that Arnold and Jerry (or Gerald, as he now calls himself), a person who once reported to me personally and also someone I never learned to trust completely, will provide a sort of leadership as the Sentinel moves into its new period. Gerald's closeness to Arnold will serve him in good stead, and he's just lucky that he has a penis. His growing closeness to Todd Masterman is also bound to help him, but I 'm not so sure about Todd or about Todd's penis.
Of course I'm fairly sure that Todd, with whom I partnered closely for a while -- just a year ago we started, I can't believe it! -- will be up to the job he keeps holding onto, at least once he gets the hang of the digital thing and figures out what blogging means and learns the managerial trick of getting along with people who don't like him. I for one hope that Todd doesn't feel passed over after all that happened when Buddy left, and then Ray left, and then Arnie moved up and Jerry got promoted right behind him. Does he feel disrespected? I hope not; I'm someone who's always rooted strongly for Todd.
I hope to stay in touch with many of you. I shall always treasure the good times and try to remember them.
Gloria
P.S. There were also bad times here that I can't forget, but I haven't yet decided what to do about them. One thing though: Todd had better hurry up and secure those restrooms as he was asked to do.
June 22nd
To: The entire staff
From: Arnold Flange, Editor in Chief; Gerald Mortallos, Managing Editor
Re: Very sad news
We don't have the proper words to express how sorry we are about Ray Featherington, who led us so well for so long. Looking back, it's clear that so many things he did were in fact a cry for help, a plea for someone to intervene. Yet we were all so busy meeting our deadlines -- protecting the interests of our readers -- that no one took notice of Ray's very personal deadline and no one doubted his sincerity about returning to Maine to pursue his outdoor and indoor dreams, that next chapter of his life that he talked about to close friends.
We can at least be grateful that he is still alive and basically responding to stimuli and receiving visitors at the county hospital. He's not taking calls, but we've spoken to his wife, and she tells us she's pretty sure Ray will be grateful for personal notes, as long as "they're not too long or too personal." Joy Featherington certainly hasn't lost her sense of humor!
We know that Ray -- at least the Ray we knew and shared so much with -- would not want us to feel pity, but rather to think about him, as Gloria put it so well, as a significant player in the good times. We send our best wishes to Joy as Ray begins on his long and possible recovery.
A & G
August 1st
To: Everyone in the building
From: Arnold Flange and Gerald Mortallos
(Plus) Todd Masterman
Re: Our total makeover
We know that we can count on your support as we revamp the Sentinel and try yet again to move it into the future.
Our first hope is that everyone will cooperate with the changes that must be made if we are to survive, starting with our move to a building in another part of our city. We realize that the new neighborhood is not considered desirable, or even safe, and that some of you are very, very worried. But the mayor has assured us that we can count on regular police patrols, and we're sure that with ordinary vigilance and employing the "buddy system" when we need to fetch our cars in the nearby parking lot, we will all get used to these changes and eventually treat them as minor inconveniences. The night shift, we're told, should be "extra careful."
We also know that many of you anticipate yet another painful reduction in our workforce. All we can do is pledge that whatever streamlining comes next -- and we're not saying that it's definitely going to happen although it probably is unavoidable -- will be done with our full awareness of the human consequences. We're also aware of your concern that by reducing staff further and turning for help to the city and its police force, and by the decision to eliminate our Tuesday paper -- a pioneering step for our industry -- we are somehow compromising the Sentinel.
Those of you know us and have worked with us surely know better, and realize that we do not intend to surrender one iota of our editorial integrity.
Arnold & Gerald & Todd
P.S. Be assured that the toilets in our new quarters will be as clearly marked as they have been lately in our present offices, with those extremely large letters that really don't allow for human error.
August 19th
10:01 a.m.
To: masterman@sentinel.com
From: mortallos@sentinel.com
Re: Your future
Sorry, Todd, but payroll has decided that it can't carry us both -- not with so much overlap in our jobs and the elimination of the Tuesday paper. Arnold has designated me as the one to let you know that you're being let go, effective immediately, although of course you'll get a fair and appropriate severance. I hope this doesn't affect our personal friendship, which has meant a lot to me in the time we've worked closely together, a time in which I've learned so many valuable tips from you.
Thanks for your efforts over the years, especially with all your attempts to get the blogging site and its content right, and your willingness to stand up to those who called it "moronic."
Gerald
August 19th
10:03 A.M.
To: mortallos@sentinel.com
From: masterman@sentinel.com
Re: Fuck you.
Fuck you and fuck our personal friendship, too.
T.
August 20th
To: Newsroom personnel
From: Arnold Flange and
Gerald Mortallos
Re: Todd Masterman
As many of you may have overheard (and we apologize for the language), Todd, after a long and distinguished (albeit bumpy) career at the Sentinel, is leaving, and has decided to make yesterday his last day. There's not much that we can say about Todd that you don't already know, but we'll miss his wisdom, his good humor, and his salty tongue. Join us in wishing him well.
A & G
P.S. We will soon determine who should take over Todd's responsibilities. Anyone interested in an aspect of the Chief Deputy Managing Editor position should talk to one of us. In the meantime, we're going to let a news aide monitor the rest rooms -- just to be sure there are no more slip-ups.
September 15th
To: The whole staff
From: Arnold
Re: Shocking news
Ray's passing was definitely expected (unless you believed in miracles), but it nevertheless came as a shock to me, to Gerald, and to his many friends at the Sentinel. Doesn't it always? Please join us for a reception after the funeral and burial so that we can all join one more time to celebrate his life.
Arnold
October 12th
Dear Friends in the Sentinel Newsroom,
Well, I've finally found the time to sit down with a ballpoint pen and write a personal note on paper, like I've been meaning to do for some time. We've all been through so many changes in our lives, and then, from a thousand miles away, I just heard the news about Ray Featherington, the person who gave me my first job right out of college.
Wow! I still remember showing up and sitting down in his smoky office and how he looked when he gave me that sly grin he has and then how he asked me why I wanted to get into the newspaper business. I can't remember what I said, but I was so excited then and it was something like how much I wanted to understand our world and help everyone else understand it too, and also how much I loved to write prose. Then he said to me, "Maybe you can do a whole lot of things for us here, and have fun too," and that's how I began my career. Anyway, I have to say it got me thinking about all of you. I spent some time on the phone with Joy Featherington, who told me that Ray thought about all of you, too. Joy is doing okay, as far as I can tell. But sometimes it's hard to tell.
I've also been thinking about the way Todd behaved toward me when we shared that Assistant Managing Editor job. Unlike my ex-husband Buddy, who tried to be respectful (except for that one time with the water when he totally lost it), Todd was not nice, I can tell you now. And he was not always nice about using the best language in the presence of women who didn't appreciate it -- I don't know how many times he told people to F-themselves, if you get my drift.
But at least Todd used the right bathroom late at night when he went prowling around, which is a lot more than I can say for Arnold (Arnie the Flange, I call him), who twice walked right in on me while I sat in a stall and didn't even have the courtesy to cover his eyes while he was saying "excuse me" and blaming the signs outside and getting just an eyeful. I wonder if any other women at the Sentinel have had this memorable, invasive experience?
I also wonder if any of you have learned how to write since I left the copy desk. I think you people who don't know the difference between "obviate" and "obvious," or "palpable" and "palatable," ought to give maybe a little bit of thought about changing professions. Not that I care anymore.
I still really miss some of you, and I have to tell you -- there is life after the Sentinel. I know that's hard to imagine, but it's true. So I say this from the heart: I love you all, and any of the women there who want to get in touch with me can write an e-mail, or contact me at my new address in a place that's very warm and nice, and we can talk about maybe filing a lawsuit together, like they did in Florida when Arnold did that same little trick.
Gloria
December 24th
From: Gerald Mortallos, Editor in Chief
Re: The future of us all
The decision to sell the Sentinel to the Western Media Group was not easy, and I know that it was particularly wrenching for Arnold, who has decided to leave town and to accept the offer to become a Vice President for Very Special Projects at WMG. Arnold tells me that he misses being a daily journalist ("I hear those sirens, and I just want to jump!" he says all the time), but he's learning a lot about business and the complications of consolidating our talent and resources. He says he's also thinking about returning to Florida in order to see what he might have left out of "Judgment in Orlando." I didn't quite get that, so Arnold will have to explain that to you.
I can't pretend that WMG will keep intact our current policies about pay and vacation time and benefits and sick leave, but WMG has the resources to let us compete more effectively as we find our digital sea-legs and our typographical balance. I think that those who are able to stick it out will find the future rewarding, or least some of us will. Or I hope so. No promises, though.
We are a much leaner operation than we were when I first arrived -- such a short time ago, it feels like yesterday. Perhaps it was yesterday. The business is changing, as the previous Sentinel ownership discovered, and if there's one thing I've learned in my years in the business, we have to learn how to change with it. Otherwise, it will change without us, and that might leave us facing an even more uncertain and impalpable future. I think in any case that we can all agree that we're better off changing before the world around us does, and I hope I can do my part to show us the way.
An immediate need is someone who can set up a blogging site -- one that our readers will read and respect after we eliminate another day in our publishing schedule (probably Saturday). Meanwhile, my door is open and I hope it stays that way, although Arnold, on his way out the door, said to me that it's better sometimes just to keep it closed and locked tight.
Gerald