Not easy on Eason
Creative Loafing Inc. CEO Ben Eason had a rough afternoon on the stand yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, according to an account published by one of his own reporters early this morning.
After testifying that he’s led a transformation over the last few months to a web-first-print-second company (as predicted here), Eason had to endure a “withering cross-examination” by Tyler Brown, attorney for CLI’s lead creditor, Atalaya Capital Management, which is trying to gain control of the alt-weekly newspaper publisher. According to CL/Tampa’s Wayne Garcia:
Brown meticulously walked Eason through his own financials, getting Eason to begrudgingly acknowledge that online revenues have dropped month-over-month since CL went into bankruptcy court on Sept. 29, 2008. (Eason countered that those drops are explained by differently sized months, some with four weeks and others with five weeks, as well as seasonality. On a month vs. previous year’s month basis, online advertising is significantly up, he testified. “I believe that the trends that we put out there are positive.”)
Brown asked Eason about the $3.5 million-$4 million in cuts made to the current year’s budget, which resulted in about 50 layoffs, 40 percent of which came in editorial news departments. Brown’s questions insinuated that the cuts actually hurt the chain and profits and forced Eason to admit that the chain’s “preeminent position” in its cities is actually sliding, or at least has slid in Atlanta, where the paper was founded. A Media Audit in November showed the rival Sunday Paper having a higher readership than the Atlanta flagship paper, a fact that it took 3-4 attempts by Brown to get Eason to agree.
The cross-exam was contentious, with Eason making a snide remark aimed at Brown at one point and disagreeing strongly with the dire portrayal of the company by Atalaya. His most common answers were “That’s not true” and that’s “not necessarily the case.” The cross went after 6:30 p.m., after which rebuttal testimony was expected.
As disclosed previously on this blog, I was fired by Eason last fall as CL/Atlanta’s editor after protesting the heavy tilt toward cutting editorial staff and other front-line departments. Ironically, I think Eason understands part of the long-term picture confronting the company quite well: Alt-weeklies are well positioned to thrive on the web, and they have no choice but to make a radical transition.
But transformations of this kind are all about timing and execution, both of which have gotten Eason into trouble in the past and again this time. For one thing, it now appears that he panicked last year by trying to change everything all at once without having the competency in place to make the necessary changes effectively. For another, he underestimated how important it is to continue to do the basics — for example, to provide the resources to produce great content, to pay attention to whether the paper is actually getting distributed, and to have leaders in place who understand the local market. In my experience, Ben was disturbingly dismissive of such fundamentals, preferring to keep his mind in the abstract world of long-term trends and grand ideas.
Related posts:
- Eason keeps control Bankruptcy Judge Caryl Delano ruled today against a motion by...
- CL reality show: next week! Will the investment bank gain control? Will Ben Eason get...
- CL ruling today Creative Loafing Inc. management, employees and creditors will find out...
- Bulkley not new to CL Company that could end up managing CL was the same...
- CL employees to judge: What about us? A bankruptcy judge must now weigh the Eason family's legacy...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Comments
One Comment on Not easy on Eason
-
Jack on
Fri, 13th Mar 2009 8:58 am
“In my experience, Ben was disturbingly dismissive of such fundamentals, preferring to keep his mind in the abstract world of long-term trends and grand ideas.”
…a perfect observation, sir.
Tell me what you're thinking...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
Our new website!
