Huge management shakeup at The Globe and Mail newsroom.
Ed Greenspon is out as editor-in-chief.
John Stackhouse, the Report On Business editor, is in.
Paul Wells of Maclean's first blogged about this at 11:17 a.m., someone having leaked him a copy of publisher Philip Crawley's memo to staff. Here are some excerpts from that memo:
John, 46, who is a Queen’s commerce graduate, joined The Globe and
Mail in
1989, and has proved himself to be a strong team leader in
our
cross-functional business initiatives, especially during the last
two
years when he championed the relaunch of our Globe Investor site.
He brings a high-class pedigree to the Editor-in-Chief position,
having
been a distinguished foreign correspondent before taking up
executive roles
as Foreign Editor and National Editor. He has raised
Report on Business to
levels of excellence in print and online which
are unsurpassed.
There will be other occasions to pay tribute to Ed Greenspon’s
outstanding
service to The Globe and Mail, which he joined in 1986. He
made his
reputation as an astute observer of Canadian politics and
turned the Ottawa
bureau into a powerhouse of coverage. Since 2002 he
has spearheaded our
editorial transformation, particularly in
exploring new ways to tell stories.
The record of awards won under his
leadership is second to none. I know you
will join me in thanking Ed
and wishing him well as he moves on to new
challenges.
There were other changes announced. Angus Frame, former editor of globeandmail.com, becomes VP digital:
Angus, 37, who graduated in political science from McMaster and from
Ryerson
in journalism, has worked for The Globe and Mail since 1996
and was Editor of
globeandmail.com before switching to Digital. He
will work closely with the
new VP of IT and with Roger Dunbar, who has
headed Digital for the last two
years, and now takes up the new
position of VP of Business Development and
Marketing.
The paper will also add a VP of IT.
Here's the official Globe and Mail story, which is heavily based on Crawley's memo.
The first time stamp I saw on it was 12:06 p.m. -- 49 minutes after Wells' blog post became public (I first saw a reference to it on Twitter).
For some background on Greenspon, here's a 2003 Ryerson Review of Journalism profile.
He's been a Globe and Mail lifer, replacing British editor Richard Addis as editor-in-chief in late July 2002.
Crawley joined the Globe in October 1998. He had brought Addis in to replace William Thorsell* (who had in turn replaced a suddenly-fired Norman Webster in 1989) in July 1999, the height of the newspaper wars with the then-upstart National Post. The thinking was the Brits knew how to compete in these sorts of battles.
* For background on Thorsell, see this May 29, 2006 post - A call for broader journalistic curiousity. And if you're really interested in this stuff, see this cached version of an old Globe page about the newspaper's history.
According to Globe lore, Greenspon had been seen as something of a dark prince before Addis's arrival -- although Addis hardly evolved into a beloved figure. There was a near complete absence of paeans about his tenure when he left -- a noted contrast to Thorsell.
Here's a 2001 profile of Stackhouse in the Ryerson Review of Journalism.
I would think most at the Globe had expected Stackhouse would eventually get the top newsroom job. I worked for globeandmail.com from July 2000 to February 2003. I didn't have very much to do with Stackhouse, but I think most people see him as very smart. He won five NNAs as a reporter. Some of his work as development issues reporter based in India was fantastic. I once heard Stackhouse speak on a journalism panel and found myself very impressed with him.
However, the question becomes this: Why now?
Let's revisit Crawley's memo:
The need to restructure our business, to meet the challenges of the current economic environment and the rapid changes in media consumption habits, has been our overarching goal during FY09.
As we head towards FY10, that evolutionary process takes a leap forward today with the reorganization of our senior executive team.
Reimagination-inspired teamwork during the last four years has reinforced the value of a more collaborative way of managing our business. By drawing on the collective strengths of the team, we are all better able as individuals to contribute to the success of The Globe and Mail. With that objective in mind, I have reviewed the composition of the Executive Team, and identified priority areas for improvement.
New skills and different styles of leadership are needed to take The Globe and Mail to levels of achievement which meet the ambitions of our shareholders, to cement our standing as the best in Canada at creating high-quality content for consumption on whatever platform is most desirable for our readers, users and advertisers.
In terms of content, the Globe picked up six NNAs on Saturday, the most of any newspaper in Canada.
Here's what the current Globe history page says about his tenure:
Under the new helm of new Editor-in-Chief, Edward Greenspon, appointed in May, 2002, The Globe and Mail continues to deliver Canada's best, deepest coverage of major national and international events - occasions when Canadians gravitate to our newspaper for its comprehensive approach to significant events and issues.
Greenspon was the founding editor of globeandmail.com, which was the first Canadian newspaper website to offer breaking news. Globeandmail.com was the first to offer comments on every story, part of a "news as conversation" paradigm. It has explored the medium in other ways, including Globe Docs and ambitious projects such as Talking To The Taliban.
I'd be surprised if his betters saw Greenspon as an obstacle to the Globe becoming even more of a multi-platform news organization. It will be interesting to see if Stackhouse has better ideas to keep things moving forward.
That leaves "ambitions for shareholders."
David Akin of CanWest News Service, who used to have a joint appointment with the Globe and CTV, tweeted that some are gossiping Greenspon got dumped because he resisted further newsroom cuts. Remember, the Globe shed 90 bodies across all departments in February.
As a warning sign something might have been coming, Akin said that observers at the NNAs, Oscars night for the Canadian newspaper business, noticed Greenspon and Crawley were seated at separate tables.
I have no idea whether the cuts resistance allegation is true or not, or whether the Crawley-Greenspon relationship had soured. But given Crawley's wording, it's not implausible that both those were factors. And resistance to cuts have been the downfall of more than one editor.
Good luck to Mr. Stackhouse as he takes the helm, although he might not want to read this previous post.
Addendum
Here are related posts: