A Tale of Two Cities

By: Joe Strupp They've both won Pulitzer Prizes, worked lengthy stints at The Wall Street Journal, and are Ivy League alumni. But as David Shribman of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Amanda Bennett of The Philadelphia Inquirer each navigate their first year as top editors at Pennsylvania's two biggest newspapers, the only thing they seem to have in common are "Keystone State" license plates on their cars.

While Shribman, who took the editor position in January, immediately implemented major changes ranging from more stories on Page One to revamped features and sports sections, Bennett, on the job since June, has taken a slower approach with just a few alterations, providing staffers a careful, measured management switch.

The different styles chosen by Shribman, 49, and Bennett, 51, are understandable given the two papers. The first new Post-Gazette editor in more than a quarter-century, Shribman needed to make his mark quickly. When Post-Gazette editor John C. Craig retired after 26 years at the paper, several veteran staffers said the newsroom hungered for a new leader and change.

For Bennett, however, recent turmoil in the editor's job had left many Inquirer staffers shaken and wondering when stability would arrive. As the fourth editor in six years, who also inherits a smaller staff than her predecessors, Bennett has had to assure reporters and editors that the paper can return to its glory days of the 1970s and 1980s, but also work within a budget that sees little chance of growing.

Both new editors also share the distinction -- good or bad -- of joining their newsrooms as outsiders, neither having worked at their current shops in the past. Shribman also came in as a rookie editor who had never before run a newsroom. Bennett broke new ground at the Inquirer as that paper's first-ever female editor, although she'd been editor for 18 months at Knight Ridder's Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader.

So how are these new editors -- who started their latest challenges during the same year in the same state -- handling the ups, downs, and unknowns of their new gigs?

Appetite for reconstruction

Post-Gazette columnist Tony Norman had a feeling that David Shribman would make fast, decisive moves when the two first lunched together at a local salad bar shortly after Shribman took over the newsroom in early 2003. "He grabbed two plates of food, sat down and just inhaled one of the plates," Norman recalls. "I was surprised how he ate so quickly." Then, while still eating, Shribman proceeded to "cross-examine me about the paper. ... He wanted to make changes in a hurry and get the job done," Norman explains. "He was already talking about what would happen two or three years down the road."

During the next nine months, Shribman engineered an overhaul of the paper that ranks as one of the biggest shake-ups it has ever seen, according to veterans. "He tells people no move is a tragedy, it is an inconvenience," Allan Walton, an 11-year Post-Gazette employee who became the paper's new features editor, says about Shribman's numerous reassignments.

After more than 25 years of reporting, which took him to The Buffalo News, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and his last gig as Washington bureau chief for The Boston Globe -- and included the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for specialized reporting -- Shribman says he wanted to take on a new challenge as a newspaper editor, but would only do so in the right place.

"I was drawn to two things: running a big newspaper, and living in a place like Pittsburgh," Shribman tells E&P. "A place where there was a major league baseball team and where, if it snowed a quarter of an inch, school wouldn't be closed for a week and a half, like in Washington."

Since his arrival, Shribman has moved quickly. For veterans used to a softer approach, some of his realignments have hit like a blindside tackle from Steelers great "Mean" Joe Greene.

One of the key changes involved new approaches to the popular sports section, in which he created a new sports Op-Ed page complete with three daily sports columns and a cartoon. He also unceremoniously dumped sports editor Fritz Huysman and has yet to name a replacement. "We want to re-think (sports) to be smarter, faster, sharper, better," Shribman declares.

In a town where readers live and die with the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, tampering with those pages can be tantamount to repackaging the Bible. "This is a beer-and-shot sports town," Norman observes. Shribman's administration, he says, may be reduced in some minds to "his transfer of the sports editor." Huysman, who will remain with the paper in another editing position, declined to comment on his pending move, saying only, "I can't gain by saying anything."

Other major changes include creating a business section Op-Ed page for Sundays, combining the local features and arts and entertainment pages into one section under a single editor, and naming a new enterprise editor who is charged with producing at least four enterprise stories each week and has carte blanche to borrow staffers from any department.

"I wanted everyone to know that when (enterprise editor) Susan Puskar comes to their supervisor saying she needs them, they say yes," Shribman stresses. "I also told her I wanted business, sports and features in that mix -- they have big relevant stories, too."

Smaller directives from Shribman increased the number of Page One stories (to six from five), banned the use of the word "sucks" from the paper, and implemented two monthly awards that reward the best reporting and editing performances with a $250 prize. "I wanted people to compete, especially for Page One and have editors want to get on Page One," Shribman says about the approach, which also urges more local stories up front. "We have to reward people."

The response has been mostly positive from the staff, according to observers. Many say they like Shribman's directness, but admit they have to see results eventually to consider his tenure a success. "Most reporters seem pretty pleased with him," says Chris Potter, managing editor of Pittsburgh City Paper, the area's leading alternative weekly. "He has professed a desire to make the paper less parochial. They respect the guy as a newsman."

Mike Bucsko, president of The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh Local 38061, agrees. "He was a relief and a breath of fresh air," says Bucsko, whose union represents 260 Post-Gazette employees. "There was a real dysfunctional atmosphere before he got here. There was a vacuum at the top." Shribman's attention to detail, such as creating a uniform byline attribution for all stories and walking around to thank each reporter personally on election night for staying later, also garner notice. "There has been much more dialogue than before," Bucsko adds.

Shribman has taken some hits, however, for recasting the sports section and continuing to write a nationally syndicated column that often focuses more on what is happening on Pennsylvania Avenue than between the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers. "Isn't there enough going on here?" asks Potter, a Pittsburgh native. Another editor, who requests anonymity, says Shribman's efforts at the paper were appreciated, but may be too extensive too quickly. "Coming here was probably a bigger leap than he thought," the editor says.

National sense

Born in Salem, Mass. and a graduate of Dartmouth College, Shribman first entered a newsroom at 16 for The Salem Evening News.

His career has been marked by pursuing big stories, but also being able to learn as much about them as necessary. "He brings an extensive sense of history," says Martin Baron, editor of The Boston Globe, where Shribman worked as assistant managing editor, a columnist and Washington bureau chief. "He is incredibly knowledgeable about what is happening on the national scene."

Married to Cindy Skrzycki, a columnist for The Washington Post, Shribman is the father of two older children. During his interviews with E&P, he sought on several occasions to edit his own comments, often declaring "make sure you say that" or "wait, let me put that another way."

When asked about his lack of top-editor experience and status as an outsider at the Post-Gazette, Shribman declared both to be an asset. "My lack of roots here is also a lack of encumbrance," he explains. "I know I have a lot to learn, but I am able to come up to speed." He also has professed a belief that the Post-Gazette can be ranked with some of the nation's best newspapers if the staff is willing. "Most daily papers are dumbed-down and trivial and don't dare to be good," he observes. "It is not a question of laziness or apathy, it is a question of oppressive economic conditions. But that doesn't mean they cannot do well."

As the flagship paper for the Toledo, Ohio-based Block Family newspaper chain, the Post-Gazette obviously gets much of the company's attention. (John R. Block, the paper's publisher, did not return calls seeking comment.) If the company's willingness to spend money for good stories, most recently shown at The (Toledo) Blade in a major series on a previously unreported slaughter in a Vietnamese village, is any indication, Shribman will likely have access to special-project funding.

Edwina Kaikai, who spent six years as features editor before Shribman assigned her to run the paper's weekly suburban sections, admires the new editor's determination to change things, starting with his shortened meetings. Shribman also receives kudos for a cookout he organized around the pool at his condominium complex after four months at the helm. With about 25 editors and managers present, Shribman sought to explain his vision and hear their initial gripes over what he'd done. "The phrase I used was 'change is a process, not an event'," he recalls. "I wanted them to know that I realized it would take time."

Philly underdog faces challenge

Amanda Bennett could have hardly chosen a more challenging assignment than the editorship of the Philadelphia Inquirer. In a city whose newspaper history dates back to Benjamin Franklin and a newsroom where the legacy of editing legend Gene Roberts still permeates, Bennett is charged with not only living up to the paper's historical fame, but making it work in a time of Knight Ridder Inc. belt-tightening.

In addition, Bennett took over as the paper's fourth editor since 1997, inheriting a staff already battered and bruised by what has arguably been a revolving door of authority. On top of that, she is charged with keeping a recent expansion into the suburbs going, while also trying to return the paper to its Pulitzer heyday, which saw it win 12 of the awards under Roberts from 1972 to 1990 but only one since he left.

"No matter how many people you have, you can still do fabulous stuff if you focus on what needs to be done," an optimistic Bennett declares during an interview in her glass-enclosed office, located just off the expansive, two-story Inquirer newsroom, which housed the paper's presses until 1996. "If you have one good person, you can do kick-ass journalism."

Bennett's demeanor seems to be drawing good reviews, according to Zack Stalberg, a 20-year editor of the rival Philadelphia Daily News, also a Knight Ridder property. "I think they like her style," he says of Inquirer staffers. "She is loose and a lot more fun than previous editors."

But, unlike Shribman, Bennett has taken her time making major changes, according to staffers. Although she is beginning to reassign some reporters and organize specialized reporting, a number of newsroom veterans say she risks taking too long to make her mark.

"A key indicator of any editor is who they hire, and she hasn't done any of that yet," says Henry Holcomb, president of the Philadelphia Newspaper Guild and a 20-year Inquirer reporter. "People really don't know that much about her." Deborah Bolling, who covers the local media for Philadelphia City Paper, the major alternative weekly, echoes Holcomb's views: "As the months have gone by, people are less and less excited about her and want her to put her money where her mouth is."

In fairness, Bennett saw a lot of upheaval in just the few months since she inherited the job on June 16. The paper was hit by major layoffs in August, although most did not affect the editorial department. Then in September, Publisher Robert J. Hall, who hired Bennett, announced he would leave at the end of the year. Joseph Natoli, publisher of Knight Ridder's San Jose Mercury News, will take over then.

Bennett admits she is taking a slow road to change, but says the paper needs some stability after what it has been through in recent years. "In a situation where the staff has been whipsawed by changes, you have to be even more careful," says Bennett, stretching her hands behind her head and leaning back on a brown leather couch in her office. "I'm not sure how anybody can come into any major news organization or any organization and begin shooting pistols off. The first thing you have to do is diagram and see what they are doing well."

Tom Ferrick, a metro columnist and 17-year Inquirer employee, supports Bennett's approach. "She has been observing, and wisely so," Ferrick says. "I think you will eventually see some outside blood come in during the next year. She's doing it on her own time."

Putting the 'local' back in focus

The new editor has spearheaded some new approaches to coverage, including a directive for staffers to link as many national and local stories together as possible. "Everyone needs to see that their beat goes all over the place," she says, adding that most trend or nationwide stories have some kind of regional connection, be it education, health, or crime. "Our national focus has to have a purpose that links it here."

Toward that end, Bennett says she is realigning some of the national and international staff, taking the paper's London reporter -- one of only three permanent foreign correspondents -- and returning her to the Philadelphia newsroom as part of a new approach that will have the paper staffing most foreign coverage on a story-by- story basis. "If people can produce stories that show how Philadelphia is linked to the international story, we can send them overseas," Bennett says.

National stories, meanwhile, will also get more consideration, but with a local link. As an example, Bennett revealed plans to staff the Kobe Bryant sexual assault trial in Colorado since Bryant grew up in the Philadelphia area.

Other changes include overhauling the paper's health and science coverage with a new emphasis on the huge pharmaceutical industry around the Philadelphia and South Jersey areas. Bennett contends it will include about a dozen reporters and two new editors who have yet to be named. In addition, Bennett reassigned Business Editor Mary Flannery to a new, one-year position as a sort of liaison to the community, in which she will provide Inquirer employees to help community groups and otherwise connect the paper to the public. "We haven't been doing enough of that," says Bennett, who has not yet named a new business editor.

But while Bennett is moving slowly with changes, she is also making clear that the budget cuts and buyouts that have reduced staff by 20% since 2000 are not likely to be reversed anytime soon. "I think there might have been an expectation that I would come here and bring in a lot of new resources," she says. "But it isn't going to happen."

Still, Bennett believes the paper can do more with less. "You just have to run faster," she says. "But I know that is not sustainable for the long term, so we will be forced to prioritize in a different way," which is what she is trying to accomplish with the slower approach.

But neither reporters nor corporate executives are known for their patience when it comes to results. At the Inquirer, they will be pressuring Bennett to produce something tangible, whether profits, higher circulation (on the upswing the past two years after a steep decline), or a return to the paper's Pulitzer glory days. One area that Bennett has vowed to continue is the suburban expansion that began under her predecessor, Walker Lundy.

That will not be easy. Lundy, who was at the paper for less than two years, resigned earlier this year, while his predecessor, Robert Rosenthal, was forced out after publicly objecting to the suburban expansion approach and failing to boost circulation.

Although she is determined to produce Pulitzer-level material, Bennett -- who had a hand in winning two Pulitzers as a reporter and an editor -- says that is not the goal of her newsroom; good work is. "In some ways, you leave your journalism behind because you are doing it for the wrong reasons," Bennett, a Pulitzer Board member since 2002, says about those who focus only on the prize. "At the (Wall Street) Journal, we never set out to win Pulitzers, we set out to do good work."

Still, some in the Philadelphia newsroom say the paper is already jockeying for Pulitzer positioning with its coverage -- along with the rival Daily News -- of the ongoing FBI probe into Philadelphia Mayor John Street. And while she publicly questions those who concentrate too much on prizes, Bennett admits that the paper's history is an asset in getting staffers to do their best work following some very tough times.

"I am finding people who say they want to do it again," Bennett says enthusiastically. "We just need to figure out how."

A model weightlifter

Although Bennett's career was mostly with the Wall Street Journal, she didn't spend all of her time on business stories and number-crunching. Her stint at the Journal -- spanning the paper's Toronto, Detroit, Washington, D.C., Beijing, and Atlanta bureaus -- included stories about entering a weightlifting contest (she placed fourth) and working as a model at a Detroit auto show.

A New Jersey native and Harvard University graduate, the married mother of two first scored a Pulitzer as part of the Journal team that won the 1997 prize for national reporting with a series on U.S. AIDS policy. Then, as managing editor for enterprise reporting at The Oregonian, she helped win a 2001 Pulitzer for public service for a series on U.S. immigration policy.

Timothy Kelly, publisher of the Lexington Herald-Leader, gave Bennett her first top editing job when he hired her in September 2001. She was supposed to fly into Lexington on Sept. 12, but the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 grounded all aircraft for days. "My family had already gone ahead but I could not get there until five days later," Bennett recalls.

Kelly remembers Bennett as intuitive and having a knack for organizing. "She is active and engaged," Kelly says. "She challenges all expectations."

Bob Hall says Bennett's background and reputation for being open and professional helped convince him that she would do well in Philadelphia. "She is a people person and a newsroom person," says Hall, the departing Inquirer publisher.

Bennett has had some missteps, such as the October suspension of an editorial assistant who was punished for allegedly causing the company to lose $25,000 due to late billing, according to Philadelphia City Paper. After Guild leaders accused the paper of rushing to judgment, the assistant was reinstated and all references to the episode in her personnel file were removed. "I didn't even consider it a stumble," Bennett says. "Sometimes it happens when you are disciplining someone. Everyone faces that issue." For the most part, though, newsroom regulars appreciate Bennett's approach and desire to make the paper better. "Everyone is rooting for her to win," says Holcomb.

As far as Bennett is concerned, would-be critics should look at her first year on the job this way: "Judge me by how much good journalism we try to do," she advises. "That is judging me fairly."