BREAKING: Sources say Asheville Citizen-Times will chop Living section starting Jan. 6

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Jason Sandford

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

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Asheville Citizen-Times

Anonymous sources are reporting to me that the Asheville Citizen-Times will cut its Living section next month when printing moves from Asheville to Greenville, S.C. I don’t have this information confirmed. Can you confirm? E-mail me at [email protected] or leave a comment below.

If this information is correct, I’m guessing the newspaper would drop to either two or three sections, instead of the four sections you’re used to now: Front section of national and international news and editorials; Mountains section of local news; Living section of feature stories and comics; and Sports section with agate, a section that includes a Business page with limited stock listings.

Newspapers across the land of Gannett Co., which owns the Citizen-Times, are reconfiguring in similar ways. The result is a huge savings in the cost of newsprint, one of the biggest expenses at a newspaper aside from payroll.

There are lots of questions here, but the biggest is: What happens to the staff that produces the daily Living sections at the Citizen-Times? Features editor Polly McDaniel helms the section. She has an assistant editor in Nancy Allen. There are a couple of copy editors who lay out the pages. Reporters Paul Clark, Carol Motsinger and entertainment editor Tony Kiss contribute to the section, as does long-time columnist and local personality Susan Reinhardt. A number of regular freelancers, such as Carol Mallet Rifkin, Amy Jones, Arnold Wengrow and former staffer Carol Currie also provide stories and columns, although Rifkin and Jones mostly contribute the newspaper’s Take5 Friday entertainment section.

Will jobs get cut with the section? What other ramifications are there? No more holiday recipes? Will the newspaper still contain comics and television listings?

Will Citizen-Times Publisher Randy Hammer or Editor Phil Fernandez come out from behind the veil and announce and/or explain this massive change in a daily product that just a few months ago saw a 50-percent price increase of a single copy (from 50 cents to 75 cents)?

Jason Sandford

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

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7 Comments

  1. janel November 25, 2009

    Except for the Smoky Mountain News, most of the area newspapers are not representing a widely held view ~ nor are they environmentally progressive. Actually in 2009 it shocks me.

    Most support big business and provide little cover for mountain towns west of Asheville.

    Reply
  2. Concerned Reader December 29, 2008

    Hatchet Hammer does it again. How is he going to justify the number of reporters and editors now? Where is the marketing department? Who is going to do the "spin" to their subscribers and advertisers? Charging more for a paper that has less content!

    Hammer is the Grinch that stole Christmas and New Year’s!
    Doesn’t look like one of John Boyle’s wishes for 2009 will come true. Newspapers managed like Hammer and Fernandez are at the end of the their hey day. Can anyone say "Buggy Whip"?

    Reply
  3. Lena December 24, 2008

    They’re probably doing that since they’re dropping some Classifieds sections a week and those two sections always printed together. Even so, that was by far of the best sections in the paper (usually), thanks to Polly and Nancy. Yeesh.

    Reply
  4. Pixiedyke December 24, 2008

    But wait! Where will they put the funnies? This is the only section I read. If I wanted the news, I’d find a blog that asked questions.

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  5. gtie December 24, 2008

    This is a story that is repeated too often, incompetent leadership runs an operation into the ground. Eventually they are fired, but only after they have negatively impacted many lives. The ACT used to be a shining example of what a local paper should be.

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  6. Blub December 24, 2008

    Ash, your last paragraph touched on a good point – cutting a section soon after raising single-copy rates. Good luck getting any kind of answer from those two. Even though I don’t read the print version anymore, I think the better decision would have been to can the sports section, or at least cut back on it. It’s lame.
    The big question is after the Hammer era ends what will be left?
    As usual the daily "newspaper" leaves us with more questions than answers.

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  7. Catch a lift? December 23, 2008

    Isn’t the ACT special. More costly but less filling. LOL

    I truly am sad for the employees of the ACT having to go through this change at such a uncertain time. I realize there is not a person at the paper that can go to sleep without thinking about their job security. Remember that you will always have your friends and family to call on when the job or coworker is no longer there. Remember that family and friends will always be there even when the job is not. And remember that we will be thinking of you during this holiday season.

    * Does not apply to the publisher

    Reply

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