When Gerald Ford was vice president at the time Richard Nixon resigned over the Watergate scandal in 1974, he assumed the presidency and ran for the White House in 1976. He had a regular message in his stump speeches during that campaign – what the government gives can always be taken away. Former President Ford was not wrong, even though he lost that election to Jimmy Carter.
I do not profess to know a lot of information about the sale of the IndyStar to the Gannett chain in 2000, but some people working for the Pulliam family at the time let it be known around town that Gannett, at least at first, wasn’t interested in buying the Star, the firm wanted the Phoenix newspaper owned by the Pulliams at that time. The Pulliam family’s response was this – Gannett, if you want the Phoenix newspaper, the Star comes with it or no deal.
As you know by now, Gannett ended up buying both the Indianapolis and Phoenix newspapers in 2000. There are some media watchers in the Indy area who feel Gannett has done nothing but cut journalists at the Star. Many say that when Gannett took over the Star, there were about 300 journalists on the Star’s payroll…now, it is believed that number is under 60.
That is why an announcement Wednesday from the IndyStar raised a number of eyebrows in Central Indiana. Gannett announced a $2 million investment in the Star, $1 million for news coverage and $1 million going to sales and marketing. It makes sense to invest in both the product and the sales staff at that same time.
There is no question the Star has been bleeding journalists to other news outlets. There are the commercial operations that have popped up lately, such as State Affairs and Axios Indy. Then there are the nonprofit business models, such as Mirror Indy, Capital Chronicle and public broadcasting’s WFYI. That is not an exhaustive listing, there are others.
The Star has lost a number of reporters to these operations. For example, an excellent education reporter, Rachel Fradette, has just moved from the Star and joined the news team at WFYI, where former Star reporter Eric Weddle is a managing editor.
Don’t get me wrong, there are excellent journalists at the Star. John Tuohy has been covering Fishers for a few years now. Kaitlin Lange is leaving State Affairs and joining the Star as an editor. Both are very good at what they do.
(Note: I incorrectly wrote that Chris Sikich is an editor at the Star in a previous version of this story. He left the Star and is now with Indy Mirror. Hard to keep up with all this without a scorecard.)
It is very encouraging news that the Star is beefing-up its staff of journalists. Anything other than layoff announcements will be welcome. The added sales staff, if successful, would support the added reporters over the long haul.
This is very good news for consumers of journalism in Central Indiana. When I started this local Fishers news blog in 2012, I said I would do the blog until another news organization proved it can cover news in Fishers effectively, or I just was unable to do it anymore. That hasn’t happened yet. Will the Star get serious about covering Fishers with added reporting staff? Time will tell.
Just remember, Gannett is providing the staffing boost at the Star. Gannett, if it so chooses in the future, can take the extra journalists away. Let’s hope that does not happen.