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In a year that has seen some of the top talent at The Plain Dealer either exit or contemplate exiting as substantial changes to the paper’s business and editorial operations await, the goodbyes aren’t stopping.

According to a couple of sources at the PD, three more have made their way to the door: Joe Guillen, reporter at the Statehouse; Karen Long, books editor; and Debbie Van Tassel, features editor.

Meanwhile, it wasn’t too long ago that publisher Terry Egger announced that he’d stay on through the full transition, whatever form that takes, which should come by late summer. He had previously said he’d retire this week.

This article appears in Jan 2-8, 2013.

Vince Grzegorek has been with Scene since 2007 and editor-in-chief since 2012. He previously worked at Discount Drug Mart and Texas Roadhouse.

6 replies on “Three More Departures at The Plain Dealer”

  2. Hey! Scene doesn’t hire just any typewriter monkey…
    They also have to know where to score the best weed….

  3. Three Day A Week Newspapers are going to die a quick death. Here in Greater Cleveland which was once a three daily newspaper town is now down to one – The Cleveland Plain Dealer, and like the Times-Picayune is in the process of going to a three-day-a-week publication. The Cleveland Daily News was the first paper that folded into the six-day-a-week Cleveland Press. Then when Scripps-Howard decided to sell the paper to a key maker its fate was sealed. The paper tried to go to a seven-day-a-week paper, but that proved unprofitable when going up against the Sunday edition of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. As the financial strain became apparent, the Cleveland Press became thinner – however the afternoon Cleveland Press was not the only paper in distress, afternoon dailies were dying all over the country. The key maker eventually ceased publication and went into the publishing of advertising circulars – but not before the keymaker publisher pulled a fast one on Cleveland and its public – by announcing its plans of building a skyscraper over the existing Cleveland Press Building. At the time I was working in radio news at WERE NewsRadio 1300. The Cleveland Press sent us a public relations packet saying they were going to alter the valuable Cleveland Press site at East 9th and Lakeside showing an artist rendition of what was going to be built. However there was one little problem with the photo, it showed no ground floor access to the skyscraper on stilts – we all sat there in the newsroom knowing full well, the current Cleveland Press Building was due for demolition and the paper was dead! Now it’s the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s turn. I’ve watched the paper get thinner over the last few years – and this past year, the newspaper is very thin and there are only a handful of reporters still on staff – from what I understand a lot of the reporters are abandoning ship – either because of pink slips, layoffs or savvy reporters who’ve seen the writing on the wall and are leaving for greener pastures elsewhere – even the pressmen have been walking out the door after finding work elsewhere. The big question is whether the Plain Dealer can survive as a three day a week newspaper? In my opinion the answer is no! Fewer reporters will be covering the stories and the quality of journalists writing for the tattered PD will take a dip – chances are the PD will be hiring less-experienced reporters at a much reduced salary. Clevelanders are going to turn off of a three-day-a-week newspaper. However, there is sort of a silver lining for Clevelanders – papers like the Akron Beacon Journal and The News Herald in Lake County, Ohio as well the Morning Journal out of Lorain will most likely add Cleveland editions of their publications as the Plain Dealer continues to evaporate. Once the PD drops its seven-day-a-week coverage – out of town papers will more than likely take up the slack!

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