DMN update

[jps]

Forgive me if this has been posted .... but here are a few names I've heard will be leaving DMN sports by the end of next month:

Ed Knockee, Shawna Seed (copy editor) and Ken Stephens, I've heard, are taking the buyouts. Rumored to be going is columnist Tim Cowlishaw.

Who knows what the ultimate numbers will be, but from the list of names I've seen, it appears as if they are cleaning house in lifestyles and their Washington bureau. There are also an awful lot of metro folks and critics (architecture, TV, movies, entertainment, dining) evidently going, along with their editorial cartoonist. Of course I think their lead cartoonist went in the last culling.

All I can figure they'll get these folks out and bring in half the staff straight out of college, thereby assuming they will retain content at a fraction of the cost. What a mess.

 

[joe king]

Dennis Hall, one of the ASEs, has interviewed for an SE job elsewhere and seems to be the frontrunner, so I'd say he's probably headed out, too.

 

[jps]

You're right - had heard he was taking the buyout as well, and neglected that one previously.

So far sports has actually done well ... but who knows what will happen when the figure out how many names are left between where they are and where they want to be.

 

[Football_Bat]

Editorial cartoonist? He went the first time around. The only other cartoonist I'm aware of is a freelancer out of Plano (Bubba Flint).

Ed Knocke ... not a surprise. A fulltime rodeo writer seems a luxury. Surprised he made the first cut, actually.

 

[lone star scribe]

A few more names to throw in the DMN lifeboats. Motorsports writer Terry Blount is leaving. Apparently so is soccer writer Steve Davis. Strong rumor is that Kevin Blackistone is leaving, which means the top two columnists, he and Tim Cowlishaw, will be gone. Former Sports Editor Dwayne Bray, who moved to Metro, apparently is also taking the buyout (headed to ESPN?) Two copy desk stars, husband-and-wife Joe and Martha Jansen, are leaving.

FYI, Shawna Seed is an asst. sports editor, not a copy editor. Another asst. editor, Roxanna Pellin, supposedly is on the fence about leaving.

The word from inside is that the Sports Editor in Chief, Bob Yates, is taking the departures as a personal affront.

 

[Moderator1]

Yates?
Is that the guy who allegedly went off on the interns at APSE or wherever last summer? Or am I thinking about someone else?

 

[lone star scribe]

The one and only.

 

[Moderator1]

Was he Dave Smith's hand-picked choice as successor?

 

[lone star scribe]

More like obvious line of succession than hand-picked. The suits liked him.

 

[Billy Monday]

Where are some of those guys going? Those are some quality names and I'd doubt they're being forced out or leaving unless they had something arranged...

 

[standman]

Knocke doubled as a layout guy during the week and was there forever.

And Yates is an ass. Hung on and provided continuity not ingenuity. He's **** Cheney with far less intelligence. The collapse of the department isn't his fault, but it is now his legacy. There are many who would say it couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

 

[patchs]

Yates?
Is that the guy who allegedly went off on the interns at APSE or wherever last summer? Or am I thinking about someone else?

It wasn't an intern, it was another SE, in the middle of a dinner or brunch.
Wasn't pretty.

 

[lone star scribe]

According to the threads here last summer, it was the interns and two SEs at the wrap-up brunch.

 

[gandhithegreat]

When the Spartans were surprised by a neighboring invader, the Spartan King would select a few fierce warriors and form a suicide squad that would meet the enemy at the shore and hold them off long enough for the Army to muster and march into battle. The thing is the King would lead the squad into battle, perishing himself.

Yates is the guy that would send everybody out before him. What a cockbite...he should be the first to go.

Had a chance to compare sections this morning, and no doubt the Star-Telegram is now the better paper.

Hate to see some of these guys go....No. 1 on my list is Joe Jansen..."Cheeks" is a great editor. Creative guy and fair.

Dennis Hall was strong as well. Good for him on potentially getting his own gig.

 

[Tracy Ringolsby]

Yates is a miserable excuse for a human being.
He went off on an intern once. Turned out his father was editor of paper in Lexington, I believe. It was when Yates was the bobblehead doll for Smith. Yates was busted to working desk, and had to go through a temper tantrum seminar. It didn't work, but he somehow resurfaced and wound up in charge. He deserves as much blame as possible for what has happened because he has no original ideas, no personality and no ability to go in and lobby for his people. He'd sell anyone down the river for his own benefit. As for Cowlishaw, he was not offered a buyout. He was deemed to valuable to the paper.

 

[redsox99]

Don't know a lot of folks at the DMN any more, but Roxanna is class. Any word on their recruiting writer Todd Wills or Cameron Maun? Those are about the only ones I know there now.

 

[jps]

Editorial cartoonist? He went the first time around. The only other cartoonist I'm aware of is a freelancer out of Plano (Bubba Flint).

Ed Knocke ... not a surprise. A fulltime rodeo writer seems a luxury. Surprised he made the first cut, actually.

Editorial cartoonist wasn't quite accurate. It was late. Sorry. I think more accurate would be Artist/Page designer. At least I think that's what he's doing there -- Randy Bishop, I mean.

Few other names I've heard are Laura Beil, Harriet Blake, Terri Blount, Robert Dodge, Bill Lodge, Lois Reed, Vernon Smith ... it's bad, bad, bad.

 

[jps]

Yates is a miserable excuse for a human being.
He went off on an intern once. Turned out his father was editor of paper in Lexington, I believe. It was when Yates was the bobblehead doll for Smith. Yates was busted to working desk, and had to go through a temper tantrum seminar. It didn't work, but he somehow resurfaced and wound up in charge. He deserves as much blame as possible for what has happened because he has no original ideas, no personality and no ability to go in and lobby for his people. He'd sell anyone down the river for his own benefit. As for Cowlishaw, he was not offered a buyout. He was deemed to valuable to the paper.

Interesting ... heard Cowlishaw had been offered. But you 'hear' all sorts of stuff about this place right now. Just to add to it, though, I'd also heard he was looking already anyway.

 

[Columbo]

Yates is a miserable excuse for a human being.
He went off on an intern once. Turned out his father was editor of paper in Lexington, I believe. It was when Yates was the bobblehead doll for Smith. Yates was busted to working desk, and had to go through a temper tantrum seminar. It didn't work, but he somehow resurfaced and wound up in charge. He deserves as much blame as possible for what has happened because he has no original ideas, no personality and no ability to go in and lobby for his people. He'd sell anyone down the river for his own benefit. As for Cowlishaw, he was not offered a buyout. He was deemed to valuable to the paper.

Interesting ... heard Cowlishaw had been offered. But you 'hear' all sorts of stuff about this place right now. Just to add to it, though, I'd also heard he was looking already anyway.

Always thought of him as a poor man's Dave Hyde.

 

[zman82]

never was a clownisha fan...if blackistone is gone that's too bad. he was one of my favorites in high school and college.