Ousted Editor Hails Successor But Worries About Paper

By: Joe Strupp A week ago, Debra Adams Simmons was on a bus in New Orleans touring the city's devastated neighborhoods as part of the Associated Press Managing Editors conference there. Two days ago, she lost her job as editor of the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal after the paper's new owners, Black Press, decided to eliminate it.

She says having witnessed such destruction in the Big Easy gave her some insight into what was important when the axe fell on her position. "There is upheaval in one's career, and then there is upheaval in the Lower Ninth Ward," Simmons told E&P today. "It puts it in perspective."

Still, the decision to eliminate her post and have the newsroom operate under a managing editor leaves her worried as she prepares to depart the newsroom she has overseen for almost four years.

"I am concerned about the paper not having an editor and a managing editor," said Simmons. "You are putting the two jobs into one and one person handling two sets of responsibilities, and that is easier said than done."

Simmons, 41, joined the paper as managing editor in January 2003 from the Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk. But just days after she started, the paper's previous editor, Jan Leach, departed, leaving Simmons to run the paper as the only top editor. When she assumed the title of editor in July 2003, she continued to work without a managing editor for another six months.

"I think I can say with authority that you need an editor and a managing editor at a major metropolitan newspaper," she added, noting that the newsroom's staff includes more than 100 positions. With a daily circulation of about 118,000, the Beacon Journal will be one of few, if any, newspapers of its size without either an editor or executive editor.

In announcing Simmons' departure on Thursday, Publisher Ed Moss said it would take effect at the end of November, adding that Managing Editor Mizell Stewart would run the newsroom after Simmons leaves. But he said the editor position would not immediatley be filled.

"I think Mizell Stewart is a fantastic editor and he will do extremely well," Simmons declared. "But there will be some things that the paper gives up."

She also pointed to the recent cutbacks under Black, which have reduced the paper's overall staff by 84 positions, including 40 in the newsroom, since August. The editorial cutbacks reduced the newsgathering staff from 150 to about 110.

"I tried to negotiate a number the newspaper could live with, which is the number we landed on," Simmons said about the newsroom cutbacks, adding that she did not believe her efforts to kept the cuts minimal led to her departure. "I certainly rallied for the newsroom, but I don't think that was a variable."

But Simmons made clear that the reductions in staff and size were a concern for her as she prepares to leave. "For the company, it is all about business and I don't begrudge the company that," she said. "My concern is about the editorial integrity of the paper, having a robust news report and a staff that seems inspired to produce good journalism.

"I think this is one of the most challenging newspaper markets in the country and am hopeful that the paper will have an opportunity to thrive journalistically and financially," she added. "I think the verdict is still out on that. The size of the staff is smaller, the size of the newspaper is smaller. Many have expressed concern with what they see as the shrinking of the newspaper."

Simmons' career, which began as a reporter for the now-defunct Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald Journal 20 years ago, has included stints at The Hartford (Conn.) Courant and Detroit Free Press. The married mother of two small children, she said she hopes to land elsewhere in some kind of editor position, saying "it is likely that I could go to another newspaper."

She said she actually began looking for another job soon after the former Knight Ridder paper was purchased by Black last summer. "Any smart editor who works for a company that gets sold knows that there is a likelihood of a change of leadership of the newspaper," she noted. "I have been having some conversations since the sale of the paper was announced. I wasn't leaving my future up to the ownership of the Akron Beacon Journal."