News :: GLBT
IN Newsweekly assoc. publisher fired, four contributors quit by Ethan Jacobs
staff reporterThursday Jan 3, 2008 Matthew Bank, CEO of HX Media, which owns IN Newsweekly, fired the paper’s associate publisher, Bill Berggren, Jan. 2. Berggren’s termination comes less than a month after four of the paper’s longtime freelancers, including former editor Fred Kuhr and religion columnist Rev. Irene Monroe, left the paper, claiming that the paper has lost editorial focus and that they have waited months for HX Media to pay them for their work. HX Media, a New York-based company that publishes both the New York Blade and HX magazine, purchased IN Newsweekly last year.
Berggren, an eight-year veteran of IN Newsweekly, told Bay Windows that he was fired because of claims that he was selling advertising for another publication.
"This morning they terminated me they heard that I was supposedly selling advertising for another publication, which I’m not," said Berggren.
While denying that he sold ads for another publication, he did say he is considering starting up a new publication.
"I’ve been investigating that. It’s not official but I’ve been investigating the possibility of doing something," said Berggren.
Neither Bank nor IN Newsweekly editor William Henderson responded to requests to comment for this story.
Berggren said since HX Media bought the paper IN Newsweekly has increasingly lost its focus on local news.
"They just want to put all New York and Philly fluff in the paper, and they don’t care about New England anymore," said Berggren.
The four departing freelancers, a group that includes Kuhr, Monroe, Rhode Island correspondent Joe Siegel, and columnist and reporter Chuck Colbert, echoed that criticism. On Dec. 8 the four wrote a letter to Bank arguing that "the overall quality of the publication, its journalistic standards, has suffered serious damage," and asking for a meeting to discuss their concerns.
Siegel told Bay Windows that in the past IN Newsweekly had relied on freelancers to provide coverage of all six New England states, but about a month ago he was notified that the paper’s weekly budget for freelancers had been cut in half. He said the paper’s coverage has narrowed in the last few months to focus more closely on Massachusetts and Rhode Island, to the exclusion of the other New England states. Siegel said while the freelancer budget for news content shrunk, he was dismayed to see ads in early December seeking a new nightlife editor and an assistant to the business manager. He and his fellow freelancers felt that the paper’s news coverage was being given short shrift.
"I thought, something isn’t right here. We’re being taken for a ride here, and I want to address this once and for all with the owner, Matthew Bank," said Siegel.
In addition to the drop in New England news coverage, Siegel said another factor in the freelancers’ decision to walk away was late payment. Although HX Media has finally paid him for his work, Siegel said he waited four months this year without receiving a paycheck.
Colbert said HX Media owes him at least $2300 for the second half of 2007, and they may owe him more.
"I have yet to look at the first half of the year," said Colbert.
Kuhr also said late payment was one of the main issues he hoped to address with Bank.
"There was a time there over the summer where they owed me $2000, and to go from a system under Chris Robinson, the former publisher, who was so good about paying people on time, and that even stayed that way when Jim Lopata was editor and general manager [after HX bought the paper]. ... Once Jim left as a gatekeeper or a middleman, the system fell apart. You had in many ways an absentee landlord, this company in New York owning this newspaper in Boston without understanding the culture of the city, the culture of the media of the city, without understanding the reputation that [IN Newsweekly had]," said Kuhr. Lopata resigned in early May and now edits Boston Spirit magazine.
Kuhr and Siegel said the four freelancers told Bank that at a minimum they wanted to have a meeting scheduled a week after they sent their letter. Kuhr said Bank sent a brief note acknowledging the letter, but he made no effort to contact them to schedule a meeting. When their one-week deadline passed, the writers decided to walk.
"[The final straw was] when we sent the letter and set a deadline to schedule a meeting with the new publisher and the new owner, Matthew Bank, and we gave him a week not to have the meeting but a week’s time to schedule the meeting, and that was ignored. The deadline came and went," said Kuhr.
Kuhr said the four writers have gone public with their dispute because they feel that the decrease in IN Newsweekly’s New England content is a loss for the community.
"In this instance it looks like Boston is losing one of its gay media options, and whenever that happens that is a sad day for the readers and the community that the newspaper purports to serve," said Kuhr.
Ethan Jacobs can be reached at ejacobs@baywindows.com
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