[R]UTLAND — Employees at the Rutland Herald and The Times Argus seeking an explanation about the state of the newspapers’ finances were told Monday there were still numerous issues that management could not discuss openly.
Top managers met with employees at the Herald’s office for a contentious session lasting more than an hour.
In a statement read at the meeting, Editor-in-Chief Rob Mitchell told staff, “At this point, there are still things we can’t talk about, for a variety of reasons.”
“Rather than focus on what we cannot yet openly discuss,” the statement continued, “I am going to try to focus today instead on what we can talk about — the overall direction and the future of these newspapers.”
Mitchell met briefly with reporters from VTDigger and elsewhere after the meeting but declined to comment. Instead he emailed a copy of the statement.
Approached after the meeting, Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial writer David Moats said he was reassured. He wouldn’t comment further but echoed management’s position that the financial picture “looks worse from the outside than it is.”
The staff meeting had been repeatedly delayed in recent days as concerns about the company’s finances and ability to pay its reporters, delivery drivers and freelancers rippled through the newsrooms. Over the last month several full-time employees have had their checks bounce and some freelancers have not been paid at all.
In his statement Mitchell said the meeting had been delayed so that information provided to employees would be accurate. However, according to several sources the meeting seemed to shed little light on the papers’ troubles.
On Friday the Herald published its own front-page story on the financial situation and management’s refusal to address the matter to the satisfaction of workers. Later that day news editor Alan Keays was fired by company President John Mitchell for planning to print a follow-up story. That story was killed.
According to several sources, John Mitchell spoke briefly at the meeting but Publisher Catherine Nelson did not.
An employee at one of the papers who asked not to be named said management reprimanded employees for talking to other media about what they consider a private financial matter. Employees were told they’d made matters worse by speaking out.
The state of the papers’ overall finances remains unclear.
In his statement Rob Mitchell said that “all our employees have been paid.”
However, that does not appear to apply to freelance writers. As of Monday afternoon four freelance writers who have done work for the Herald and The Times Argus have not been paid for work they did in July.
On Friday one formal complaint had been filed with the Department of Labor. According to Commissioner Annie Noonan, she’s received several more inquiries and anticipates additional complaints being filed this week.
Art Edelstein, who has freelanced for The Times Argus for almost 40 years, said Herald business manager Deborah Morse told him three weeks ago that the paper was changing banks. A similar explanation was provided to employees whose checks bounced.
“I’ve never had a check bounce,” Edelstein said, referring to his many years writing for the Argus. “Over the past year or so there have been a few times — three or four — when a check did not arrive when it was supposed to.”
A Herald freelancer who asked not to be named said he was notified that his check was being returned for an “uncollected funds hold,” which typically means the account holder has the money but it’s not yet available.
In an email message Rob Mitchell declined to comment on whether the paper had changed banks.
In his statement he underscored that there was a future for the newspapers his family owns and said the company was in the midst of a digital transition. That effort, he said, has been underway for a few years.
In March, Business Vermont, the online version of New England Business Journals, was launched. In May the Sunday newspaper was overhauled and the Herald released a consumer-focused mobile app, Go Rutland.
The biggest move was the company’s decision last month to cut back on the print editions from seven days a week to four. Mitchell’s statement also said the papers are in the middle of a web redesign “that will allow for a modern news workflow.”
He said something would be published about the meeting Tuesday or in the next few days.
Returning to the Herald newsroom after the meeting, reporter Gordon Dritschilo, who wrote Friday’s story about the financial issues, said, “As long as I’m employed at this newspaper I’ll say what I have to say in its pages.”
