Mike DeVries
Doug Moe
Doug Moe describes his reaction as “surprised but not shocked.” Surprised because there was no warning, and not shocked because, well, this is the newspaper business.
Last Thursday afternoon, Moe was called in by Wisconsin State Journal editor John Smalley for a bad-news conversation. As Moe recalls, “He talked about budgets and the need to hit some better numbers.” Moe, who has written columns for the paper since 2008, when he was wooed away from the jointly owned Capital Times, was being laid off. Effective immediately.
“This was certainly not how I would have desired to end it,” he says.
Moe, whose long career includes eight books and a stint as editor of Madison Magazine, says he was told his performance was not an issue. Year after year, he’s been named by readers as the paper’s favorite reporter. “I have the 2014 award hanging in my kitchen,” he says.
Also laid off last week were sports writers Andy Baggot, who has worked at the paper since 1978, writing a regular column for more than two decades, and Dennis Semrau, who has worked for The Capital Times and State Journal since 1991, mainly covering prep sports. Like Moe, both have large followings and deep experience covering their beats.
Brandon Storlie, who has worked as a reporter and sports copy editor since 2009, was also laid off, as was reporter Dan Simmons, who covered higher education. Sources say Simmons’ layoff, unlike the others, was voluntary.
These departures come on top of the loss of veteran reporter Dee Hall, who left for a job with the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, and part-time books editor Jeanne Kolker, who is leaving to run her own business, Insight Counseling & Wellness. The understanding in the newsroom is that these positions will not be filled. The paper will be left with about 50 bodies, down from 80 in 2009.
“I’ve never seen so many long, serious faces as in that Thursday meeting,” says a staffer of Smalley’s announcement of the cuts to staff. “There was lots of talk afterward about the future of the paper and the future of newspapers in general, and a lot of speculation about why certain people and certain positions were cut.”
Newspapers everywhere are hurting, seeking ways to ease the pain. Both the Cap Times and State Journal have been trimming staff for years, through buyouts and layoffs. The Cap Times is now offering buyouts to employees age 40 and older who have been at the paper at least 10 years. It will give one week of pay for every year of service, up to 26 weeks. The paper has not said how many bodies are needed. Editor Paul Fanlund declined to comment.
It is not uncommon for newspapers to target veteran staff, who receive slightly higher salaries. In February, the Scripps Washington Bureau laid off journalists including four-time Pulitzer Prize winner Sydney Freedberg and two-time Polk award winner Marcia Myers. At least three other Pulitzer Prize winners have gotten the ax in recent years.
Lee Enterprises, which provides editorial content for the State Journal, cited an “improved revenue trend” in its latest quarterly revenue report. The company is still bailing out from the debt it incurred in buying the Pulitzer newspaper chain in 2005. But its financial woes are not so great that it can’t take care of people at the top. In fiscal 2014, CEO Mary Junck received $2.8 million in compensation, including a $1.1 million bonus.
Smalley declined to be interviewed. State Journal publisher John Humenik did not return a phone message. Charles Arms, a spokesman for Lee Enterprises, said “the specifics of why they chose to do a reduction in staff and which individuals they chose” were made by the paper.
George Hesselberg, a longtime State Journal reporter, laments the cuts. “Any loss to newsrooms at the State Journal and The Capital Times is a loss to the community,” Hesselberg says. “It means fewer experienced eyes, and that’s not good for the community.”
To date, the State Journal has made no public comment on the layoffs. The work of Moe, Baggot, Semrau and Simmons has simply stopped appearing.
Baggot, who grew up reading the State Journal and calls it “a tremendous privilege” to have worked there, says Smalley told him the paper would no longer send a reporter to cover UW hockey away games and was cutting his job in the process. He says the exodus “creates a lot of holes,” which remaining staff will be hard-pressed to fill. “It’s going to put a lot of pressure on people.”
Semrau, whose position at the State Journal was officially part time, exudes gratitude for the years he’s spent covering high school sports, especially his profiles of more than 1,000 student athletes. When he cleared out his desk area last Saturday, he filled 12 boxes with old programs and other mementos — “all personal stuff” — accumulated over the years.
“I had a great run, 25 years with both newspapers,” he says. “My job as a high school sports reporter was to document memories, and the thanks and appreciation I’ve received over the years is priceless.” He chokes up as his says this, crediting the athletes, the schools, his family.
Semrau, 60, describes his career using sports metaphors. He was picked up by the Cap Times, eventually traded to the State Journal, spent a few weeks on the disabled list with a health problem, and “now I’m a free agent.” He has a master’s in educational administration, and hopes to find work in high school sports, as an athletic director or communications specialist.
Baggot, 57, is sorry that he was not able to write a farewell column “to thank all of the people who were part of this.” He’s not sure what he’ll do next: “There are no fish lines in the water.”
Moe, 59, admits that after 18 years of writing multiple columns each week he’s looking forward to catching his breath. But not for too long. He is co-writing former Gov. Tommy Thompson’s autobiography for the UW Press. He’s also writing a one-actor play about Chicago columnist Mike Royko, the subject of one of Moe’s books, “set at the Billy Goat Tavern, of course.”
And Moe is writing a farewell column — to be published in Madison Magazine.
