Also this issue:

Feds Indict "Mr. Fantastic"
A City Paper investigation leads to espionage charges.
-Howard Altman

Incendiary Situation
Neighbors nervous as MOVE boards up headquarters.
-Gwen Shaffer

Vegas, Baby!
-Daryl Gale

Hit 'Em Where They Live
-Daniel Brook

Gay-J's Host the USA
A national convention of lesbian and gay journalists makes headlines for Philly.
-David Warner

Starting the Dialogue
-Mary F. Patel

The Bell Curve
City Paper's weekly gauge of Philly's Quality of Life

September 19-25, 2002

on media

Rosey's Future

by Deborah Bolling

San Francisco Chronicle Executive Editor Phil Bronstein says his sagging paper needs the fresh eyes and ears that he expects former Inquirer editor Robert “Rosey” Rosenthal will bring to the broadsheet’s pages after he assumes the position of managing editor, sometime around Columbus Day.

"We've lacked a strong identity for a long time," says Bronstein (whose other major cred is that he is the husband of movie star Sharon Stone), "but when someone like Rosey comes here, he's bringing the sense of someone who is seeing things for the first time. He's smart and experienced and he does not have any sanctimonious arrogance or narrow-mindedness about the world. I believe his exuberance and curiosity is an antidote to that sort of thinking."

Although the responsibility of a managing editor is to oversee the newspaper's day-to-day operations, Rosey was used to being the "idea man" at the Inky for the nearly four years he was that paper's editor and executive vice president. Now, he says, in his new role, he's been offered the opportunity to "turn the Chronicle around."

"Phil wants me to run the paper," Rosey says. "They're anxious and hungry to make it better. The Hearst Companies made it clear to me they want the newspaper to be a helluva lot better."

Rosey, an award-winning journalist with 30-plus years of newspaper experience, left the Inky last November on Election Day under circumstances that revolved around the direction the Inky would take (i.e. suburban coverage). He says that after an adjunct professorship last spring at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, he interviewed with a number of papers around the country before making his decision to oversee the 480-person Chronicle staff.

"Phil is clearly a strong personality, but we're very different," he says. "He expects me to be a real presence in the newsroom, because it's really about energizing both the stories and the reporters."

Rosey says he'll move west ahead of his wife and three young children, "to get situated."

"It's going to be very challenging and I know it won't be easy," he says, "but it'll be a terrific opportunity to improve a newspaper in one of the world's great cities."

Over the Wall

In the past week, City Councilman W. Wilson Goode Jr. made two interesting announcements. First, he introduced then passed legislation through City Council to memorialize eight slaves once owned by George Washington on a site in Independence National Historic Park. Secondly, he persuaded longtime Philadelphia Weekly senior staff writer Solomon Jones to hang up his pen and join his City Council staff as the senior legislative aide and public affairs director.

Jones, who was a staffer at PW for over four years and a freelancer a few years before that, says that he'll no longer write anything for the alternative weekly relating to "political issues."

"I will continue, though, to write about the issues I've always written about," Jones says, "the people of Philadelphia."

In 2001, Jones, who was PW's only black staff writer, published his first fiction novel, Pipe Dream. Jones recently completed his second novel, a story about a detective's search for a little girl in the Philadelphia housing projects, and plans to begin his third right away.

"I've always been impressed with [Councilman Goode] and what he's tried to do," Jones says. "My appointment here will not allow me to write about political issues, but with all the things I've ever written about, it's always been my hope to be able to make life better for the people of Philadelphia."

Over at PW, editor Tim Whitaker says he'll just have to make do without Jones until he finds a suitable replacement.

"Solomon is still with us in many ways," Whitaker says, explaining that Jones' new role will be that of senior contributing editor, a non-staff, unsalaried position. "He'll continue to write for us [on a freelance basis], but about things that don't have any conflict of interest. He'll write about life in the city with stories that talk about the human condition, like sports."

Whitaker also says that Jones, who began his new $52,000-a-year gig on Sept. 9, will still attend special staff meetings at PW.

"For the most part, Solomon's natural tendency is to steer clear of stories with political implications," Whitaker explains. "Because he is such a good writer, he tends to want to stay close to what people have between their ears -- and not legislation."

Three Down…

And the good news is, the Inky 10 is now the Inky Seven. On Tuesday, 400 N. Broad St. was, once again, the scene of a peaceful demonstration staged by the Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia. Since the union’s first rally last month protesting the layoffs of 10 editorial assistants, some progress has been made. Of the 10 EAs who were given pink slips in July, three have found alternatives within the organization: Two EAs were hired into entirely new positions, and another was promoted. Union members, however, are still objecting to the planned seven layoffs.

Henry Holcomb, Guild president, says the fight to save the Inky Seven from losing their jobs must go on. And the membership apparently agrees. At Tuesday's rally, the turnout was noticeably larger than last month.

"This sends the message that we want to send," Holcomb told the crowd, through a bullhorn. "We're still behind the EAs that [editor] Walker Lundy wants to lay off."

Nearly 300 Inky and Daily News staffers, including representatives from editorial, advertising, circulation and finance, marched in a long, wide circle, which stretched from the southeast corner of Broad to well beyond the perimeter of the immense white building. Nearly all carried placards that read: "No Layoffs."

Members of Guild Local 10 are pissed off because Inky publisher Bob Hall promised there would be no layoffs at the company that currently employs 1,500 full-timers, but has a workforce twice that. Rather, Hall asked workers to accept buyouts as a way to thin the ranks and save money. Nearly 200 accepted the offer, over a two-year period.

As the 30-minute demonstration wound down, Holcomb encouraged the protesters to continue displaying their "No Layoffs" signs at their desks and to keep wearing the small, black lapel ribbons, distributed by the Guild, which symbolize the organization's solidarity. (A few weeks ago, an interoffice memo was circulated admonishing the membership for inappropriately posting the "No Layoffs" signs on editors' office windows).

Since the first week of September, over 20 employees have been redeployed within the Inky ranks, and now occupy a variety of positions expected to help facilitate the new suburban plan that was introduced by Lundy on July 30. However, the projected launch date of the new suburban initiative has been pushed by at least 10 days. By default, the seven remaining EAs have also temporarily escaped their impending termination.

"We're still negotiating with the company," says Cynthia McGroarty, Guild chairperson for the Suburban Writers and Photographers. "We hope they change their minds [about the layoffs], but we really don't know. We only know that the suburban plan isn't ready to roll yet, and they're talking about a 'soft launch,' but I'm not exactly sure what that means."

In an e-mail (the phones were down at the Inky on Tuesday afternoon), Managing Editor Anne Gordon writes, "We pushed the start date [for the suburban plan] back two weeks to Oct. 12. We had so much hiring to do that we needed the additional two weeks to get new hires here and settled. So far, everything is going according to plan and we have hired some excellent reporters, copy editors and news desk editors. We are all really excited."

Holcomb says that another protest could be scheduled within the next two weeks, but even if the EAs are let go, Guild members will continue to protest after Oct. 12.

"We plan to keep protesting," Holcomb says. "Under their contract, these [EAs] are eligible for re-hire for up to two years. They are supposed to get first choice if a job opens up. In the meantime, we're bargaining in good faith and we're having some kind of conversation with someone almost everyday. Yes, it's taking up a lot of time, but it's definitely worth it."