Former Citizen-Times marketing director Labedz, now at Creative Loafing, involved in firing of editor

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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Atlanta Magazine has the story:

Ken Edelstein, the editor of Creative Loafing for the past ten years, has been fired. Staffers within the paper said that Edelstein was called into a meeting this morning with publisher Luann Lebedz and a human resources manager. While he was in the meeting, the staffers said, Edelstein’s computer was confiscated by IT workers. About twenty minutes later, Edelstein emerged from the meeting, took his coat and walked out. The editorial department, some in tears, followed him. When they returned, Lebedz announced that Edelstein and CL had “parted ways,” but did not elaborate.

Last Tuesday, Edelstein was involved in a heated meeting with company CEO Ben Eason, who had mandated more cuts to the editorial department. (The company is in the midst of bankruptcy proceedings.) Edelstein resisted, claiming that Eason should first make cuts to the general administration before making further cuts to an already decimated editorial staff, as well as cuts to advertising sales.

“Ken was fired in a time of crisis because he talked back to Ben,” said one staffer I talked to today.

In an email, Lebedz said no replacement has been named. In another email, Eason wrote, “This is a personnel matter that we’re working through. Luann will no doubt be looking for a new leader for the Loaf to replace Ken.” Ten days ago, I spoke with Eason, who said the paper was in the midst of a “rich internal dialogue.”

Late this afternoon, Eason sent out an email to editors at his six papers:

Just wanted to send around a courtesy email to Publishing Teams. Luann let Ken Edelstein go this morning. I concurred in this decision and feel it best for the organization. Ken and I go back a long ways and he’s a very talented person and we’ll miss him. The decision to let him go was related to a personal matter that is best left private for all parties concerned. You can rest assured that CL doesn’t operate in a capricious manner and that an employee of such tenure and talents would be given every benefit of the doubt to stay a part of the organization.
Edelstein himself wasn’t saying much. “I know I did the right thing and I’m incredibly proud of the people who work there, not just the people in editorial but the whole staff,” he said. “It’s a great bunch of people and I love them.” Referring to last Tuesday’s meeting, Edelstein said, “The meeting made it clear that Ben and I have very deep philosophical differences about what’s best for the company and its employees.”

John Sugg, a former top editor at the paper and frequent columnist, had this to say when I reached him by phone:

“First of all, Ken deserves credit for having driven that paper to the quality that it managed to achieve, especially in its high point in the midpoint of this decade. His intellect and drive is what pushed that paper forward. The more important thing is that Creative Loafing at this point in time is suffering from incredibly bad management—not just because of the financial condition, or the national economy, or the state of newspapers. People who don’t know what they’re doing are running the place. That’s the basic problem. Ken has stood up for the employees and said ‘Why are we cutting into the people who make the beans and sell the beans, but not cutting into the bean counters?’ That’s the actual reason he was fired. To me that is a signal that what matters is not quality or selling that quality to advertisers, it’s simply the people who are there, the factotums, are scrambling to keep their jobs and [upper management] punishes someone who tells the truth. It’s hard to argue that there’s much left of the newspaper now. The people who are there have made a heroic effort, but at some point you go below a certain critical mass.”