I find myself wondering whether Niagara Gazette Publisher Wayne Lowman will now characterize Greg Mitchell as a disgruntled former employee.
Mitchell, a veteran magazine editor and the author of eight books, was named to the top editorial slot at "Editor and Publisher," a widely respected trade publication known as the bible of the newspaper industry, back in 2002.
It turns out that he was born and bred here in the Falls, and that his first writing gig was at the Gazette, as was detailed a few weeks ago in a column by Don Glynn for that paper.
Last week, Mitchell chose to devote his own "Editor and Publisher" column to a subject very dear to my heart -- the precipitous decline of the Gazette and the almost unbelievable ascent of the Niagara Falls Reporter.
"You never forget your first newspaper job -- especially when it's the only one you've ever had -- and in my case that's the Niagara Falls (N.Y.) Gazette, at the tail end of the 1960s when it was still owned by Gannett," he wrote. "It's now known simply as the Niagara Gazette, but it's lost more than just part of its logo."
Mitchell details the tailspin of the Gazette, whose circulation numbers have dwindled from more than 60,000 to a paltry 22,386, and points up the fact that the daily now employs "only a handful of Niagara Falls-based reporters."
"Still, there's an old fashioned newspaper war going on, between the Gazette and an upstart tabloid weekly called the Niagara Falls Reporter," he wrote. "I've kept my eye on it, because stories from the Reporter keep popping up on far-flung Web sites and a couple of my old friends freelance at the paper, Bill Gallagher, a former city councilman who now covers Detroit for Fox 2 News, and John Hanchette, my mentor at the Gazette, later its managing editor and a Pulitzer Prize winner for Gannett News Service."
As would befit the top editor at a nationally renowned publication, Mitchell really did his homework, even uncovering the fact that I once fronted a somewhat disreputable rock band back in the day. He also showed his professionalism, looking to Gazette Publisher Wayne Lowman for comment.
But Lowman chose to take the low road and issue a statement, keeping his lips zipped.
"In a column Mr. Hudson made some fabrications about the Gazette and CNHI, our parent company. They simply weren't true," Lowman said. "We sent Mr. Hudson a very strongly worded letter asking for a clarification. There has been no clarification."
Oh, to have been a fly on the wall in Lowman's office that day!
"Mr. Lowman, 'Editor and Publisher' on line two," the secretary buzzes.
Gee, they must be calling to ask me about my scary newspaper career, which has taken me from Kokomo all the way to the bright lights of Niagara Falls, he thinks. He picks up the phone, preparing to pontificate.
Ouch!
For the record, I was not a fly on the wall that day and have no way of knowing how it went down. I've had it about up to here with strongly worded letters from the likes of Lowman and his ilk, however, and wouldn't want to get another one demanding a clarification on this.
Also for the record, Lowman is now telling people Mitchell didn't give him the chance to respond for the article, which Lowman characterizes as "one-sided."
Sensibly, seeing as how Lowman wouldn't talk to him and I made no bones about my earnest desire to drive the Gazette out of business, Mitchell called his old friend and mentor, Hanchette, now a distinguished professor of journalism at St. Bonaventure University, to get to the bottom of the story.
Hanchette told him that it was ironic that the Alabama-based Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. had the word "community" in its name, seeing as how their main intent seems to be the rape of those communities they're supposed to be serving, and said the Gazette has "become a shadow of its former self."
"There used to be people at the Gazette telling me I was disloyal for knocking my old paper," Hanchette is quoted as saying. "Now some of them have been laid off."
Hanchette added that he now gets more reader feedback on his stories for the Reporter than he ever received as a founding editor of USA Today.
"I'll go up there and people will say, 'I don't agree with what you wrote, but thanks to the Reporter I can find out what's really going on in town,'" Hanchette told Mitchell.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | April 12 2005 |