CityPages Body Count: Staff Update
CityPages got around to updating their staff directory on Friday night. Was it black Friday at CityPages, or did they simply get around to updating their outdated roster?
Some of the names removed have been gone from the paper for quite some time such as cheap eats food writer Jim Norton who was shown the door at the end of 2008.
Here are the people and former titles of those who are now gone from the roster:
Advertising
Advertising Account Executive: Kattie Swartzcitypages.com
Web Intern: Michelle LeonClassifieds
Classified Account Executive: Amanda Almich
Classified Account Executive: Jorge Raasch
Classified Account Executive: Teace Sothiphahnak
Classified Coordinator: Tracie GarciaEditorial
Staff Writer: Jonathan Kaminsky
Staff Writer: Quinton Skinner
Staff Writer: Beth Walton
Assistant A-List Editor: Ben Palosaari
Listings Coordinator: Nate Patrin
Contributing Writer: James NortonOperations
Front Desk Coordinator: Sandra FuchsProduction / Information Systems
Assistant Production Manager: Dana Graham
Looks like they’re down 14 since the last time they updated their roster. Additionally, Paul Schmelzer reported earlier this week at the Minnesota Independent that CityPages has also made cuts to their freelance music and food blogging budgets.
The classifieds department appears to have felt the most pain, with its staff dwindling to half it’s former size. Is Craigslist to blame?
Strangely, some active writers are missing from the staff page, such as Emily Kaiser, Judd Spicer, a Erin Carlyle, who all published to the Blotter as recently as yesterday. However, they weren’t in the directory before the roster shake-up either, so it’s not clear to me why their roles aren’t recognized by the paper. They publish under their own names but aren’t staff or contributing writers?
February 22nd, 2009 at 12:19 am
um, it strikes me you could find the answers to the questions you raise quite easily by picking up the phone. on the off chance that you don’t get satisfaction, then you can write that “[name and title] from city pages declined to comment.” it’s an uncomplicated process, one i’m sure you could handle.
February 22nd, 2009 at 8:58 am
grover, just a warning: you’re not going to find a lot of that here.
February 22nd, 2009 at 10:22 am
[...] Grover wasn’t impressed with the depth of my reporting on CityPages’ staff changes. Apparently, some news is worse than no news. [...]
February 23rd, 2009 at 2:30 am
all i’m saying is that it shouldn’t be beyond the pale to do a little reporting. clearly, you’ve got some investigative chops, what with the CP stuff you’ve done recently. i just don’t get the mind-set of throwing incomplete information up on the web when a much fuller picture can be painted simply by making a phone call. i don’t mean to single you out here, as this method appears to be the norm for most online writers. i just think you can do better, and maybe even be something of an example to your peers.
February 23rd, 2009 at 7:06 am
Grover, thanks for the feedback. I really do appreciate hearing your perspective on my writing style.
I try to balance my time, interests and incentives. One way to do this is to write, “This is interesting” posts that do just that (for me, at least). If people seem to agree, I tend to go deeper on the topic in follow up posts.
I’m curious to hear who you’d consider a peer of mine.
If you stick around for a while, you’ll find that the depth of reporting that you saw in the CityPages posts are the exception.