By DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, JULY 1, 2015) — Is the other sneaker about to drop for the local daily once proudly known as The Berkshire Eagle? One must wonder in light of a report on the dismissal of three editorial employees at The Boring Broadsheet and the news out of sister papers in the state and in Vermont.

Yesterday, THE PLANET received reports that an editor and two managers were given the heave-ho at The BB. Couple that with a report filed by our colleague Ann Galloway of vtdigger.org. She reported, also yesterday, that New England Newspapers Inc., titular owner of The BB, has given pink slips to 10 editorial employees at The Bennington Banner, The Brattleboro Reformer, and The Manchester Journal. Or maybe these aren’t layoffs at all. Perhaps the pink slips are in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Moran: Nothing to Say

Earlier this year, Apollo Global Management closed in on a $400 million deal to buy “the troubled Digital First Media newspaper chain,” but Apollo “backed out. Not long after, John Paton, the CEO of [Digital First Media], stepped down, according to Jim Romenesko, a newspaper industry reporter. In recent weeks, Digital First sold off properties in New Mexico and Texas to Gannett, according to the Poynter Institute blog.”

Moran isn’t talking, but THE PLANET‘s sources at The BB tell of a flurry of activity on Rug Row. This includes the three dismissals and a number of closed-door executive meetings. The rumor mill is flying, including talk of the paper closing its doors or larger staff cuts on the way. There are a lot of nervous souls at The Clock Tower.

This comes on the heels of an internal memo sent to Digital First employees after Apollo pulled out of its contemplated purchase. The memo says, in part: “It has been determined that a sale of the Company as previously speculated is not in the best interest of shareholders at this time. However, we continue to have discussions concerning selected assets … .”

Industry insiders are not optimistic on Digital First being able to sell the company, but they point to the likelihood of some of the assets and properties being palmed off and “cherry-picked.” Inside The BB newsroom, employees felt a chill at Paton’s statement, “However, we continue to have discussion concerning selected assets.”

Full Text of DFI’s Internal Memo to Employees

Here’s the entire memo Paton sent to Digital First employees, taken from Romenesko’s website. One wag, John Mecklin, California/Nevada correspondent for The Columbia Journalism Review, said of Paton’s masterpiece, “Methinks this memo is a job for FactCheck.org.” You’ll likely agree as you check out the “Everything is great” tone:

——– 000 ——–

Date: May 14, 2015 at 10:03:36 AM MDT
Subject: IMPORTANT Message From John Paton and Steve Rossi

Folks,

As you all know, it is earnings season and we are seeing others in our industry report on their financial performance. While our fiscal year does not end until June 30th, we can see how it will finish and we thought this was a good time to update you on news at our Company on this and other fronts.

To begin, for DFM, it has been a strong year in a difficult environment. In short, because of you this Company has real, demonstrable momentum. Year-to-date we have:

* Increased our operating profit versus last year, enabling us to deliver on our goal of providing profit sharing for all eligible employees;

* Delivered nearly $200 million of digital ad sales; and

* Expanded our AdTaxi digital platform, both internationally and with large newspaper, television station and ad agency partners in 166 cities and 6 countries./CONTINUES

These results demonstrate that our strategic game plan is working: we are building scale, carefully controlling expenses and investing in the digital future. At the same time, we continue to provide exceptional reporting, winning numerous awards for outstanding coverage including the first Pulitzer Prize for the Torrance Daily Breeze in our Los Angeles News Group. Our Denver Post was a finalist for a Pulitzer as well, and our San Jose Mercury News won the prestigious Scripps Howard Foundation Award for Environmental Reporting. And that’s just to name a few.

None of this success could happen without you.

You will recall that back in September, DFM announced a strategic review process – meaning we would look at all of our options for the future, including potentially the sale of DFM as a whole or in regional clusters, or the continued execution of our business plan. While the review process is not complete it has been determined that a sale of the Company as previously speculated is not in the best interest of shareholders at this time. However, we continue to have discussions concerning selected assets, and we are looking at potential acquisition opportunities. Our performance is driving our digital future and increased profitability, and our essentially debt-free structure has given us a lot of options, which we will continue to explore. We will keep you updated on our plans, including when the strategic review process has concluded.

In addition, we wanted to let you know that in light of the strong trajectory the Company is on, John has decided that the time is right for him to dedicate his efforts on a full-time basis to IVA Ventures. IVA Ventures is a company that actively seeks strategic investments in seed, early and growth stage digital media start-ups aimed at accelerating the digital transformation of legacy media companies. We expect to have an ongoing working relationship with IVA Ventures in identifying cutting-edge products to accelerate our digital growth. John will remain CEO until our fiscal year end which ends on June 30 before taking up his new position, at which time Steve will assume leadership of DFM.

We are both deeply grateful for all of your terrific work and want to express our sincerest thanks for your contributions to the momentum underway at DFM. Let’s keep doing what we are doing and keep our performance strong.

John and Steve

 ——– 000 ——–

In other words, “Things are hunky-dory! Couldn’t be better! Bring on the dancing girls! That’s why we tried to sell the entire company out from under your feet and your jobs along with it. Failing that, we hope we can sell pieces of it. As for you, our valued employees, cry us a river why dontcha.”

As media blogger Steve Buttry remarked not long after the memo was issued, “Selling this scattered company and its diverse properties has … been much more difficult than anyone thought last year when executives decided to pursue a sale.”

Keep the Resumes Polished

The Eagle finds itself in a faux controversy over the publishing of a column on race. The discussion has spilled into a statewide debate. In fact, yesterday Boston Globe business reporter Collum Borchers interviewed THE PLANET for our views on the matter. Borchers’ story, he said, would run today. We’re just as curious as you are to read what we reportedly said.

That controversy, however, pales in comparison to the battle The Eagle has on its hands simply to remain alive. It might be a good idea for all hands to keep the resumes updated and ready.

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“Silence! coequal with Eternity; / Thou wert, ere Nature’s-self began to be, / ‘Twas one vast Nothing, all, and all slept fast in thee.” — Alexander Pope, “E. of Rochester on Silence,” (1737).

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

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