On Dec. 25, the Niagara Gazette will join just about every other daily newspaper in the country in wishing its readers a Merry Christmas.
In the fortnight before the holiday, though, the paper's management sent those same readers, advertisers and several employees very different messages.
In cutting staff yet again, the Gazette told its customers they will get even less for their money. The downsized workers got more direct advice -- get out. And real estate records hint that the chief executive of the Gazette's parent company may not be far behind.
Niagara USA Chamber President and Greater Niagara Newspapers Publisher Steve Braver has quietly put the Youngstown home he bought just three years ago on the market, leading to speculation in some quarters that his special brand of "leadership" may soon be a thing of the past here.
But the drastic downsizing at the Niagara Gazette, Tonawanda News, Lockport Union-Sun and Journal and the Medina Journal-Register that marks Braver's tenure continued last week, with three newsroom jobs eliminated and at least two more likely to follow.
Braver bought his home in November, 1999, for $160,000 and listed it on Nov. 16 of this year for $209,500, real estate sources confirmed.
"That's some markup," one well-known local realtor told the Reporter. "He's definitely trying to make some money."
The assessed value of the property, meanwhile, has not changed since Braver purchased it. For tax purposes, the home is worth just $138,400.
The home, at 369 Dansworth Road, features four bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths and sits on a puny 110 x 164 square-foot lot. The colonial-style home was built in 1970 and features such yuppie amenities as central air conditioning, a two-car attached garage, french doors, a beamed ceiling and a fireplace, sources said.
Born in the media mecca of New York City, Braver managed small-town newspapers in Maine, Pennsylvania and Nevada before winding up here.
When he replaced longtime publisher Mark Francis in the summer of 1999, Braver informed staffers at each local paper he had no plans for a drastic overhaul. He had only been brought in by the poverty-row Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. chain to improve the quality of the papers, he said.
Few of the employees now working for GNN attended any of those staff meetings. In fact, many of the current employees were still in college at the time. Braver slashed veteran newsroom staff, closed the printing plants in Niagara Falls and Lockport, moved mailroom operations to North Tonawanda and reduced the physical size of the newspaper's pages.
Last week's casualties included veteran Niagara Gazette Editorial Page Editor Karen Keefe, as well as full-time positions in the Tonawanda and Lockport newsrooms. Two more recent vacancies may also remain unfilled -- one a part-time job in the Gazette's sports department and a photographer's position, which served all four newspapers.
Keefe worked as a reporter and night city editor before taking over the editorial page. Her knowledge of the area and extensive journalistic background aided a generation of new reporters and editors, while her unquestioned professionalism provided an isle of sanity in an often-chaotic newsroom.
Before the elimination of her position, Keefe held the distinction of being the only Gazette editor to remain in the same job since the arrival of Terry Shaw as managing editor way back in 1997.
Keefe's impact on the Gazette went far beyond the editorials she wrote and the Opinion page she edited.
"Karen is not only an excellent journalist and writer, she's one of the genuinely nicest people you could ever meet -- you'll never hear her say a bad word about anyone," said one former co-worker. "She was the perfect person to deal with readers who called with complaints, and she was always glad to help other people in the newsroom who had questions about the area. I don't know how you replace someone like that."
Days before announcing a similar number of newsroom job eliminations in February, 2001, Braver said the company needed to become "more nimble." In another step toward achieving this nebulous goal, GNN plans to introduce something called a "universal desk" shortly after the New Year. Under the plan, all four papers would be edited and laid out by workers in Tonawanda each evening.
Besides allowing even deeper cuts in an already-skeletal staff and moving at least a half-dozen jobs out of Niagara Falls, the plan raises the possibility of editors with no experience in or knowledge of a particular city planning and proof-reading that area's daily newspaper.
No corresponding cuts in circulation or advertising prices have been announced.
Braver has also distinguished himself in public life during his brief tenure here.
The Niagara Falls Chamber of Commerce, now the Niagara USA Chamber, decided it might be advantageous to have local business interests control the editorial content of the mainstream media, and named Braver chairman of that organization. He willingly complied.
Since that time, the agenda of Braver's papers and that of the Chamber have been indistinguishable.
In fact, Chamber CEO Bobby Newman has a regular column on the editorial pages of the GNN papers.
Braver has also been closely identified with the ailing administration of Mayor Irene Elia, shilling for her at public events and privately advising her on policy issues.
Whether Braver plans a move to Amherst or out of Western New York altogether remains to be seen. Calls and an e-mail sent to him last week went unreturned and unanswered. But newspaper industry sources told the Reporter that the Gazette and its sister papers are in deep trouble.
While the Gazette was valued at about $16 million by newspaper brokers when it was last sold, CNHI paid $22 million for the paper.
Debt service on the additional $6 million amounts to more than $480,000 a year -- making the cash flow situation virtually impossible.
Additionally, a former CNHI executive said that a four-year contract is "about right" for a publisher brought in to run an operation from outside the chain.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | December 17 2002 |