Henry E. Scott, who joined Creative Loafing, Inc. as vice president and chief marketing officer in February, has been named the publisher of the company's Atlanta paper. He replaces Luann Labedz, who announced her departure in March, and will be the paper's eighth publisher in six years. "With the declining circulation of the city's only daily, and its decision to move its newsroom [outside the Perimeter], we have emerged as Atlanta's largest-circulation hometown newspaper," he says. "That means we have an even greater responsibility to Atlantans who want to learn how to make the most of life in this sophisticated and cosmopolitan city."
The clip below is of a SXSW panel featuring Joran Oppelt and Stephen Hammill of Creative Loafing, Carly Carioli of the Boston Phoenix and the East Bay Express' Jody Colley. (Note: there are a few minutes of video before the discussion begins.)
Alison Draper, who was publisher of the Dallas Observer between 2002 and 2006, has been named the new vice president and chief sales officer of Creative Loafing, Inc. She will report to CL CEO Marty Petty, and will be based in the company's Chicago office. "We're all aware of the decline in the influence of daily newspapers and in their circulation and advertising sales," Draper says in a release. "I'm convinced that Creative Loafing's newspapers and websites can attract the readers and serve the advertisers who find daily newspapers irrelevant."
Marty Petty, who was named the six-paper company's first post-bankruptcy CEO in November, has been dubbed one of the people to watch in the Tampa Bay business scene by the St. Petersburg Times. "Petty has her work cut out for her. Any newspaper is a business challenge in these lean days. Creative Loafing faces direct competition from tbt* Tampa Bay Times, the free, Monday-through-Friday alt-like tabloid that belongs to the St. Petersburg Times," the Times reports. "But Petty, 57, now controls a geographically diverse audience with five other alts published in Sarasota, Charlotte, Atlanta, Chicago and Washington, DC. Let the games begin."
The six-paper company has tapped Scott, a former president of Out Publishing and VP at the New York Times Co., to lead its marketing efforts as it emerges from bankruptcy. Scott comes to Creative Loafing from Gansevoort Media, a planning and product development firm he founded in 1995.
Petty, the former publisher of the St. Petersburg Times and the Hartford Courant, has been named the new chief executive officer of the six-paper Creative Loafing chain. She will succeed Richard W. Gilbert, who has been interim CEO since the company emerged from bankruptcy. "I'm invigorated by the possibilities to deepen relationships with our readers and advertisers and expand our influence in our communities," she says in a release. "The coverage areas which have differentiated and distinguished the alternative press historically may be more important than ever." MORE from Creative Loafing (Tampa).
St. Petersburg Times media critic Eric Deggans says that Creative Loafing should, among other things, "get some aggressive, entertaining name writers back in the house" and "break news, especially news mainstream outlets won't report." He says alt-weeklies are well-positioned to do the latter. "An alternative newspaper often does its best work holding accountable those who hold others accountable," Deggans writes. "There's a multitude of civic issues at hand that a grass roots alternative newspaper could grab hold of, and explore in new ways; doing that in a provocative, localized way builds the brand tremendously."
After Atalaya gained control of the six-paper company in bankruptcy court last week, several of the new board members met with staff at Creative Loafing (Atlanta). "I want your ideas," Jim O'Shea told them. "I want to hear from you. And I'll do everything in my power to make sure we're sitting here two, five, 10 years from now with more resources, more people, better salaries and more of a future." O'Shea, a former Los Angeles Times editor, will advise Atalaya on editorial strategy while former Des Moines Register president Richard Gilbert will be interim CEO. The Atlanta staff "applauded the sentiments" expressed by O'Shea, Thomas Wheatley reports. "After the meeting, one staffer likened the mood in the room to the elation with which liberals greeted the inauguration of President Barack Obama after eight years of George W. Bush."
Managing partner Michael Bogdan tells the Chicago Tribune that without the crushing debt, Creative Loafing is now generating positive cash flow, which will allow the individual papers to hire new employees "to fill holes where they need to grow." He acknowledges that despite all the promises, employees at the six-paper company will likely remain skeptical of Atalaya. "I don't expect people to trust me right now," he says. "The proof's in the pudding." MORE: Chicago Reader associate publisher Steve Timble discusses the sale and the new media landscape on WTTW's Chicago Tonight TV show.
"Maybe we should have been smarter, or less starry-eyed about it, but we thought and hoped Eason would succeed," says Mike Lenehan, who owned a small part of the Reader before it was sold to Eason. "I don't think there would have been much sentiment to do [the deal] if we thought he'd turn out to be Ben Eason. Maybe we should have known better -- but that's what we thought." MORE: Reader media columnist Michael Miner discusses the paper's future with Chicago Public Radio, and Creative Loafing (Tampa) publisher Sharry Smith has sent out a memo calling Atalaya's acquisition of the company "a very positive development." (AAN News has been told the memo was drafted by all of the CL publishers together.)
