Very sad.
My Metro Pulse association started in 1992 when Rand Pearson came to my going-away party after the Journal folded. I'd taken a job covering state politics in Harrisburg Pa. and was fixing to leave town.
But my party (in the upstairs of Hoo-Rays) was so good and so full of people I loved and here was this kid offering me a place at his new semi-weekly that I ditched my new gig and stayed for a good long while.
That fall, a guy named Joe Sullivan took me to lunch at Manhattans and said he was thinking about buying Metro Pulse, and would I come work full time?
Of course I said yes, and over the years, I occasionally did some stuff of which I'm everlastingly proud, and I thank everyone, from Joe to Coury to Ian to Rand who taught me and tolerated me and helped me learn stuff I never would have known otherwise.

I hate it for everybody there. I know exactly how this feels, and it's terrible.

NOOOOoooooooo

After hearing the news earlier today, I quickly wrote a letter to the KNS lamenting the loss of this great paper. Since I’m not sure if my target audience would pay for a paper, I’ll post it here instead:

Cultural critic Ann Powers once claimed that Knoxville is Austin without the hype. With a resurgent downtown full of energy and characters, one could see where she was coming from with that bold statement. And the only media that really covered what was going on in Downtown Knoxville was the Metro Pulse, a newspaper this city was blessed to have. However, with the recent discontinuation of this great paper, Knoxville lost a piece of its soul. Knoxville.com is completely different than the Metro Pulse and the two are not interchangeable in the least. Readers of the Metro Pulse don’t care about Celebrity gossip or tonight’s episode of The Biggest Loser. We care about the city we love. With the death of this beloved paper, we no longer have a paper dedicated to what’s going on in our vibrant city. I wish the best to the former staff writers of this paper and I hope you realize your contribution to our city.
***
Hopefully, someone with more experience and talent than me can do something to keep this media avenue going. This excellent team produced memorable content that connected our city for over two decades. I’d also like to point out that they accomplished this profitably.

I thought the Nashville Scene was owned by Scripps. But it looks like they are an LLC.

City Press LLC.

Potential home for Metropulse?

Nashville Scene - About Us

SouthComm Communications Inc.

Apart from the horrible judgment in terminating this publication (which I understand actually was profitable and which was a nationally award-winning, prestigious credit to Knoxville) - What is up with this Game of Thrones Red Wedding style of slaughtering entire staffs without notice? Give them a chance to write a farewell or something. That tactic is so disrespectful, so brutal and dishonorable. I honestly wonder if there is a decent person in any position of authority at KNS.

The times are hard. And corporations make them harder on real people but this isn't just on Scripps. KNS is taking responsibility for this decision. This is pure venality. The notion that that pathetic web site can compensate for the loss of talent like Cari, Jack, Matthew is particularly galling....You really start to understand how far we have not come as a region when it comes to any appreciation for progress, independent thought and cultivation since H.L. Mencken labeled East Tennessee the Sahara of the Bozart*. Metro Pulse tried to save us from that, but there is no escape from a desert so vast its flagship daily paper's concept of a thing's whole value is smaller than its profit margin.

*Bozart is how you spell "beaux arts" at Scripps.

Over at wbir.com the last line of their short article about this said, "Metro Pulse employees have been told not to talk to the media or they will not receive their severance". So, who would have told the wbir reporter that?

Devastating for the city. Yeah, we've made progress, but we have so far to go. I hope someone can find jobs for Neely and co. I'm just a dumb 20-something, but I've read it weekly for a good ten years and it's no small part of the reason I practically live downtown.

God, and to think most of the locals will say "good riddance, liberal rag."

Best to all the staff.

Damn. This news just turned a bad day much, much worse. Although I've kinda been expecting it ever since the KNS took over.

.. assuming they were at least breaking even when it was sold, I don't know. But I knew when they sold to Scripps, it wasn't a matter of if, but a matter of when.

I hope someone either picks it up, or if the name/domain is kept, the same people put together another weekly. Clearly the advertisers are there and there is a need.

(link...)

Remember just a few months ago this was great, "Journal Media Group will be a very healthy corporation. It will have no debt or pension obligations — those stay with Scripps. Its revenue will be about half a billion dollars a year, and it will produce a very solid profit out of that."

You knew that had to be BS.

Jack Mac will crash land another Scripps newspaper. First the Rocky Mountain News. And soon the KNS. They threw the Metro Pulse off the plane first. But why? I believe the Metro Pulse could have been sold. But that would allow a competitor in the market. And that is not how these people roll. This is very selfish. Advertisers and readers should remember this for a long time. Birmingham and McElroy are very bad karma for Knoxville.

Knoxville.com is very different than the Metro Pulse. This will hurt bars and restaurants downtown. It will hurt small clothing stores and coffee shops. Pretty much everything on Market Square that is not a chain. And you can bet that the ad rates for Knoxville.com will be much higher than for the Metro Pulse.

How can the KNS cut three people in the newsroom? Who is left to cut?

The only bright light in this is that people will be encouraged to read the Shopper and the Focus. The only negative, the KNS prints both those papers. And that is the big barrier to a new newspaper starting here to replace the Metro Pulse. When you own the only printing press for miles you control the publishing market.

Does the Daily Times in Maryville still own a printing press?

My sympathies go to all of those who put far more into that paper than shows up in the print.

OTOH, Randy, perhaps you might consider hosting a new blog. Pick those former MP writers that would agree to do so and provide them with a coherent and consistent place to publish news and opinion. Only they (and you) can post but anyone reasonably civil can comment.

just a thought.

Anybody else notice that comments are disabled on the KNS announcement story? Wow, that's really chicken***t.

Scripps is already in the toilet and to sell the MetroPulse and then have to turn right around and compete with the weekly would be short term gain and long term pain.

Ad rates, particularly classifieds, are so bad at KNS that the obscure weekly like the Focus is now picking up foreclosure, estate, and other legal type notices that were once the hallmark and cash cow of the big daily. Not any more.

There is enough newspaper/community paper talent laying around right now to basically assemble a local newspaper from scratch. Problem is the printing process, the capital requirement and the necessary ad dollars to sprinkle in there from time to time.

Hate that they sold the Pulse to the dark side several years ago, but that was then and this is now and a quiet but well written and informed voice has been silenced, possibly for good.

Absolute tragedy beyond comprehension. Consolidate, cut labor costs and liquidate key assets to maintain profits and balance sheets for shareholders. Community is irrelevant. This is when the market fundamentalists will remind us that those jobs will be reabsorbed and that people will move on. As usual this has been shown as incorrect, but that has not been shown to matter. Unfortunately good journalism, sort of like good teaching and good health care, is not something that can be shipped off to the lowest common denominator labor pool. As has been shown in the labor statistics these jobs aren't coming back. Instead people get re-employed at lower pay scales. On and on the US working class swirls the drain.
My heart goes out to CWG, Jack and all the other good people over there as it does over the fact that the inkling of progressive media in this town is for now an afterthought. That said here's to some hell raising, journalists, perhaps with labor unions, environmentalists, and other progressive types on starting their own damn paper. Get it printed at the daily times or someplace. I'll buy subscriptions, hell I'll buy an ad. Call what the hellbender press why not.

Anyone else find it weird that EWS shut down Metro Pulse the day early voting starts?

Trying to remember all the great reporters and staff and columnists there over the years. Betty, of course, JFM, Ian, Joe Tarr, Mike Gibson, Jack Neely, Barry Henderson, Matt Edens, Michael Haynes, Coury Turczyn, even Joe Sullivan (who saved it once) and Frank Cagle, who I was agreeing with a lot lately (something wrong with one of us, not sure which). And Scott McNutt (who got screwed by Scripps twice?). And the newer folks like CWG, who, while we've had our differences, did some pretty great work, Paige Huntoon. And of course Rikki's columns. Probably left out a bunch.

Hope the latest victims of corporate cruelty land on their feet somewhere more welcoming and appreciative of their talents.

guess thats what happens when they cover one to many democrats!

This is a stunning loss for Knoxville. My heart goes out to anyone who worked there and especially all the great MP reporters. I hope we don't lose you and the talent you have brought us.

My heart goes out to all the people at the MP.

They pulled the plug on the Metro Pulse Twitter. Apparently the KNS wants no discussion. However, you can go here: (link...)

From another Tweet, Metro Pulse was profitable, not profitable enough. What does that mean? How do you not sell a profitable paper? Very strange.

Is this the sign the Jimmy H. will get an intent letter from the Feds?

1. As much as we'd like the existing employees to get on Kickstarter and go after all the old advertisers and start up another independent weekly, odds are this severance deal includes a contract for them not to do that. I would also guess that the more likely candidates to lead such an effort are getting a more generous severance. It would take a very brave person to give them the middle finger and go out on their own, not knowing how many ex-MPs could come with him/her.

(Note that 'non compete' clauses signed at start of employment are virtually impossible to enforce- you can't keep someone from making a living, is the legal argument. You can prevent them from taking confidential information, but can't prevent them from competing. However, a severance package is a contract that two parties agree to, and anything can be agreed to).

2. The payouts are probably over several months, so it's quite possible nobody from MP can say anything about what the agreement actually says for several months. However, we could hope something leaks out.

3. Randy, if I were you, I'd target some of the MP advertisers for banner ads ASAP. Some advertisers don't have a real alternative with KNS, Focus, etc.

4. There may be a point when the non-compete agreements run out and another weekly starts up. But I suspect the agreements are going to be long enough so as to make that difficult. It would be easier to pick up those 90% of those advertisers in the next week or two. It will be more difficult to get 60% of them 6 months from now.

Still, a Kickstarter could put up a goal and see what happens.

Man this sucks balls. Best of luck to all the MPers. Hopefully some of the staff will be able to stick around Knoxpatch.

If anyone decides to try to hoist something new out of the ashes here, I'd love to help.

-Katie

Lots of brave discussions ensued after the Journal folded, but the money is a deal-breaker. It's EXPENSIVE to meet a payroll, print and distribute. We needed an angel, but none stepped up. Finally Joe Sullivan, who'd gotten interested in being a partner in the Journal back when Dwight Kessel and some of his friends were thinking about taking it over, stepped in.

I know I've said this over and over again, but Metro Pulse would never have gotten off the ground without Joe, and he sacrificed huge chunks of his net worth to keep it afloat for those many years.

Thank you Joe Sullivan. We are indebted to you.

The Metro Pulse won't becomng back in a publication that is printed on paper and delivered by fossill fuels. The entire print industry is going to be dead in 10 years, except for the full color tabloids at the grocery store counters and they will be replaced in 15 years. heck it might only be five years before all print is dead. real journalism is dying fast. In the future average people will get there news at no charge and it will all be lies. rich folks who need good information about business or politics will sign on to private news networks.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot.. Soylant Green is made out of people!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello everyone: So apparently all the Metro Pulse staff have been silenced, for fear of losing severance packages. I, however, am under no such restrictions. I have been a frequent contributor since 1993, and I was a full-time staff member for about 10 of those years. As a free-lance contributor, I authored the paper's second-to-last (?) cover story, on Sheri Siler, a couple of weeks ago. Even as a free-lancer, I still attended the more-or-less weekly editorial meetings.
In other words, I know the deal about as well as most of the staff members, and I can say whatever the @#$% I want. And I want to say this: Patrick Birmingham is a spineless, half-bright corporate weasel. He never knew what the hell Metro Pulse was, or what to do with it. He and Scripps' team of pencil-necked corporate bean counters were always harassing the editors for not meeting some imaginary profit projections, goals conceived in an airless vacuum chamber on the planet Venus by drug-addled baboons. He was also prone to making veiled innuendoes these last three-four years or so that he wanted to somehow merge Knoxville.com and MP, or else combine parts of the staffs, or some other damned idiot thing. Last year, after MP had just finished turning a fairly reasonable profit, he rewarded the staff by threatening to break the paper's lease at 602 S. Gay Street and move the entire operation into the Sentinel building, thus destroying any hope for maintaining editorial independence.
Most recently, when art director Travis Gray announced he needed to move on, Birmingham would not let the paper hire a replacement AD, citing a Scripps hiring freeze. At this point, we all suspected something was up, as the paper simply cannot function without a @#$ing ART DIRECTOR, any more than it could survive without, oh, say, an EDITOR. Travis had agreed to stay on as AD (working remotely) until he found a job. It was massively unclear just what the hell would happen when he found one, or what would have happened if he had just decided to tell Scripps to rot.
My observation is that Birmingham is the idiot who is most responsible for this atrocity. Metro Pulse was indeed turning a profit (although its projections for the coming year were only break-even, that still means it was a very viable concern in the context of print media. At the very least, it was a property that one should have reasonably been able to shop to another interested party.) The lion's share of blame should be cast at Birmingham's weasel feet.
Right now, I'm not actually certain what role Jack McElroy played in all of this, though I would not be surprised if his fingerprints were on this boondoggle as well. He is a jackass of the lowest order, and has proven himself such every time he has ever opened his stupid yapping mouth.
In closing, Scripps can suck it. Birmingham and his bosses are soulless jackals, and may they all burn in hell. With a couple of exceptions, I have hated everything they have done since they bought the paper out in 2007. They took a once-fun and vibrant newsroom/working environment and turned it into sterile, joyless drudge. #$% all of them.
--Mike Gibson

pencil-necked corporate bean counters were always harassing

You could post this on a Knox County School's story, change some names, and it would be just as accurate as it is here.

Mother Jones looks like it is published by a non-profit 501c3 Foundation for National Progress.

A Short-ish History of Metro Pulse
By Jack Neely in Metro Pulse

[Ed. note: Copyrighted material removed and replace with a link to the original source]

Here is thought do go to http://www.knoxtalkradio.com/ or http://www.wutkradio.com/ and seriously take a minute to follow them on Facebook or Twitter. That's about it.

Look, it is a hundred times easier to save an independent voice in the community, then to create a new one. Seriously, WUTK has a phenomenal local governmental show on Sunday Mornings, from 10am to 12pm with Hubert Smith and his volunteer staff of college students being part of the process. Or tomorrow morning tune in to 94.3fm from 6am to 9am with Mike & Shyne. If you never called in before, go for it. Those guys are awesome when it comes to being intrepid, honest, fair balanced. Heck we hear their hard hitting interviews on this blog all the time!

Does this hit close to home? Absolutely! However, I have seen what happens when a clarion bell is rung and society rallies around good reporting. Perfect example, (link...) A brilliant editorial by the New York Times, about the Washington Post. The article highlights everything that the Post is doing right. Breaking big stories, investigating deep issues, and hiring more people. (gasp!)

So I conclude with the words David Carr, starts his editorial with.

"Nothing in God’s creation is ever as good as it once was, but The Washington Post is coming pretty close."

Sincerely,
Daniel Andrews.
ETSPJ VP

*Speaking on my own and for nobody and nothing else but me.

Thanks to everyone who has offered their support, love, kindness, and money for our bar tab today.

I can't comment on the specifics, but this thread has a lot of stuff wrong. (Except Mike's post. He knows.)

And to the haters hating on us - or suddenly pretending to love us/me after nonstop bashing, fuck all y'all. That's some bullshit.

Good night.

Needless to say, I was very sad to hear the news about Metropulse today. Especially sad for those who lost their jobs...but also for our community. But I'm an optimist by nature, and I'm hopeful that someone who possesses the means...but also the vision and the wherewithal...will step in to fill the void. One of the saddest things in the Wall Street driven culture of maximizing shareholder profit above all else is the loss of a sense of purpose and true reason for being that should be at the heart of every meaningful enterprise. It's insanely short-sighted, short-term thinking (even Jack Welch has weighed in on this). It won't last forever because it can't...the snake eats its own tail...but so much damage is done in the meantime.

What's even more scary is that the same bottom-line, reductionist standards are being applied to education.

I cancelled my subscription to the sentinel today. I hope a lot of people do.

metro focus?

Metro Scene

The Knoxville News Sentinel and Scripps: A Cultural Wrecking Ball Struggling to Maintain Relevance

There was a quick push to let Knoxville know that they would not be left out in the cold with regard to culture. As part of the release regarding Metro Pulse on Wednesday, a tangible effort was made to state that Knoxville.com would be the primary source for future arts and culture news. Calling this move insulting is, at best, an understatement. Metro Pulse was not simply a directory listing of who is playing at the Pilot Light for any given week; however, that’s how it appears to be viewed. Metro Pulse provided absolutely wonderful pieces on politics, culture, music, food, and the people who make up this confusing town that somehow thought making an artificial creek on top of an actual creek (Second Creek; World’s Fair Park) was a good idea.

So, now that we have a little peek into our local Scripps/KNS operations, is anyone in this forum shocked by what's been revealed?

Not that it matters, just curious as to what others thought about what's been alluded to here for years.

Can anybody confirm the John North layoff, newsroom cuts, or have any info on what came out of that 4 p.m. meeting R. Neil mentioned in the updates to the original post?
~m.

Last night I made a mistake. The Metro Pulse Twitter had been pulled. I found the Metro Pulse history on FaceBook. My concern was that would be pulled too. I posted in its entirety what I found. It was not signed. I thought I had the link at the bottom of the post. I hit save and went to bed.

For what is worth, the Metro Pulse FaceBook has been pulled. There is, for now, until Birmingham sends the kill email, a new No Metro Pulse FaceBook for those of you on FaceBook.

(link...)

There is also, for now, the Not Metro Pulse Twitter.

(link...)

Both of these have a short half life.

Both of these have a short half life.

Isn't it the case that the name "NotMetroPulse" can be secured with the Secretary of State for $20?

Dunno how Birmingham could issue any directive to an entity he doesn't own...

(Hat tip to Brent Minchey, owner Project Universe Knoxville :-)

Here's a MP history, courtesy of the brilliant Ian Blackburn

(link...)

$$ Period. JMG's got it right, don't financially support Patrick Birmingham and Scripps.

I recall when the Pulse changed hands a few years ago, Three Rivers Market ceased buying ads, and hasn't run any ads to my knowledge since the Pulse was purchased by Scripps.

Twice in the last few months I picked up a free Friday News Sentinel to look at the Knoxville.com section. It's Metro Pulse light, lightweight that is. Plus it makes me about puke to step into a Pilot! I quit buying from Pilot in 1996, promised myself to never give them another dime and I haven't. In the furture, I'm gonna save myself some gut wrenching by avoiding both Pilot and the free Friday paper.

In the words of Scott Miller, cheap ain't cheap, free is cheap. But even a free News Sentinel ain't worth the effort.

Now will somebody please do an online calendar listing of the arts/entertainment in the area? The venues and the artists need you whoever you are out there.

Scripps payroll for contractors goes through India.

It's an opportunity to start their own **independent** paper ... or join the staff of Blank.

Why did they not cut Knoxville.com and merge its resources into Metro Pulse?

A study in sleaze.

PB bought a house for 350K this summer. Maybe those 23+ jobs will help him make the mortgage on that.

Ever confirmed if there was any attempt to sell?

From PBS ...

...caused a rift with CBS, and they decided to discontinue See It Now.

Perhaps more than any reporter before or since, Murrow captured the trust and belief of a nation and returned that trust with honesty and courage. His belief in journalism as an active part of the political process and a necessary tool within democracy has forever altered the politics and everyday life of the American people.

Edward R. Murrow

10XXX TAN RARA DR
Deed Date: 7/8/2014
Final Sale Price $350,000

9XXX BROMFIELD LN
Placed for sale on August 4th
$609,000.00

Property Details

Whittington Creek S/D- Immaculate 2 story with finished 3rd floor. Freshly painted inside and out. 4 Bedrooms, bonus and Rec Room up. 3.5 Baths. New roof, gutters and garage doors. 2 New HVAC units. Formal Living and Dining Room. Family Room with fireplace and builtins.Open kitchen with new dishwasher and refrigerator, Granite tops, island, gas cooktop and large eatin breakfast area. Master up with cathedral ceilings, fireplace and humongous bath with 2 separate vanities, whirlpool and tile

Updated sale price $599,000

Maybe he will have a team of reporters, publishers, and editors review his divorce in detail.
*cough*

If it's true that Metro Pulse was silenced because of its political reporting, the situation is even more depressing and outrageous than we thought. Please, someone, start another paper and give these people their voice back. Because their voice is our voice.

My first route as a delivery driver was sort of a hodgepodge of things thrown together that senior drivers didn't want. Untrained customers and one's with quirks were common. The pressure from management was constant and daily. It's where I got to know Hacksaw Reynolds, and although he wasn't much of a talker, he probably grunted at me as much as he did anyone else, with the possible exception of the National Guard guys he worked on his Jeep with.

Then there was the strip. Stories from Jim England with him pulling out the original master copy of an early Amazing Rhythm Aces album from England Studios. Raven Records with Todd and Jay standing behind the counter with a "Why'd you do it, Bob?" the morning after a particularly gruesome murder near the neighborhood. And of course, Mary Gill's. Mary Gill's introduction to me was " I Mary Gill and I'm 92 years old and I still go to market myself every year. (This was before the Bush I recession that killed all the upper end local designer dress shops. And I don't remember exactly how old Mary Gill was. I remember thinking, "Damn, thats old." I was young. It could have been fifty now that I think about it.) And then there was Martin Hunt. He explained that I would just have to be patient with him and wait until he got to the door. He was blind. But he never tarried. I had a personal rule for dealing with people. As long as someone was doing the best they could and not jerking me around, I would give them the time they needed to accomplish whatever task I needed from them. In Martin's case, it was writing checks for CODs. He would leave with the tags and come back with the checks. At a pretty good pace for a blind guy, I always thought. One day I had my back to him and he made a forward off-color remark about my butt. I remember thinking, I thought this guy was blind, so I said, "I thought you were blind." "Hey, baby." was his standard greeting and he and Mary Gill were quite the pair. The beauty of a job like mine was the chance to meet some really great people. Martin was one of those guys. They gave me a tie for Christmas that year and, i'm not much of a tie guy, so when someone said, "Man, that's silk." I said,"Oh." Come to find out they gave me a hundred dollar tie for Christmas for simply doing my job. It made me feel good. It made me feel appreciated, like maybe someone noticed and appreciated what I was doing. And that's the kind of guy he was. He paid attention and appreciated life and the people around him. And we appreciated him. He is a bright spot in my memories of my job. RIP Martin.

And thanks Jack Neely for the final column reminding the of us native Knoxious Villains why we stayed here to live our lives. And for giving Martin the kind of send off he deserved. He would have been proud to be included in Knoxville's history. It is fitting. It's sad to see it go.

My son Henry used to read to Mr. Hunt, who was a lovely, gracious and quirky man.

--An incomplete, probably inaccurate, highly biased recent history of the KNS by a disgruntled former employee.

Shortly before my prompt, not altogether unexpected departure from the KNS in 2008, we had a staff meeting to discuss the results of a companywide "assessment," correctly read by most employees as "impending layoff."

Our "new" priority?
Increasing. Advertising. Revenue.
Improving news coverage didn't even make the top five.
"But aren't we selling news?" I stupidly asked.
"A lot of people buy it for the ads." said the bidness manager, rechristened publisher.

This summed up the KNS philosophy nicely. Several years earlier the bidness manager (apologies to the late Molly Ivins) was promoted to publisher after an extended duel with The Greek, a fiery editor who didn't welcome ad men in the newsroom. The Greek was replaced by a demure little editor in name only, who majored in trying not to upset anyone, especially on jack-off Fridays.

The publisher had plans for increasing subscription rates, attracting young adults and chasing Craigslist out of town, but he hated reporters, sometimes referring to them as stenographers when he thought no one was listening.

Lists.
Everyone and his mother would rush to clean out news stands if their names or faces appeared in print, according to the publisher's theory. We began printing elementary honor rolls, mid-level promotions, head shots of college graduates. Names were counted (or fudged) and reported, as ordered, to the publisher.

"You, too, can be a reporter."
Craigslist was coming to town, oh no. KNS created online "Hubs" for neighborhoods. PTA moms and rotary club secretaries were solicited to write free copy, unedited. PR flaks loved it. Few others were as eager to risk the derision of former English teachers, even if they could figure out the Byzantine upload protocol, which they couldn't. An occasional screed from a bike-hating road hog had to be hurriedly spiked.

Chasing young tail
An outdoor section, long planned to promote seasonal festivals, picnic spots and day hikes was reinvented overnight. We would attract young readers by featuring extreme sports. Cliff hangers were made boring by repetition, advertisers bailed. A few years earlier, a campus supplement was conceived and died in infancy, despite a cover featuring a wet t-shirt contest.

Who needs copy editors?
Spell check, programmed layouts and prewritten headlines failed to kill off the copy desk, so the publisher hatched a plan to edit KNS by remote, from Texas, or maybe it was India. A supervisor warned his staff not to sign any long-term leases. He was toast.

As a reward for all his creative leadership, the publisher was promoted into obscurity and now raises money for local charity and sucks up to Haslams. Another advertising salesman is now publisher.

Long deigned too insignificant for notice, despite regularly scooping the daily and giving it away, the weeklies were bought out by Scripps when the grocery flyers switched papers. Ad rates went up, but that failed to plug the leak that was fast becoming a flood. This week, they killed MetroPulse, which employed some of the city's most respected journalists. It was read religiously by anyone who counts and many who don't. Scripps said it wasn't profitable, but since they set the administrative costs, ink and newsprint rates, creative accounting may come into play. KNS management never admitted to making a profit, even in the salad days.

The daily also laid off some more of their own staff while others took retirement. It was, of course, announced as an improvement in the "combined" KNS entertainment section.

Since reporters are few and fewer, syndicated write ups of reality tv may suffer

Maybe it is commonplace, but it seems inappropriate for a newspaper publisher to get too chummy in the community they serve. They should be civil, pleasant and supportive in general in the community, but keeping a basic level of distance seems prudent and professional and necessary to maintain objectivity.

I find it so disrespectful to the MP staff and to the community that this shutdown was handled like something out of "Office Space." Real newspapers are part of the community they serve, and the least Mr. Birmingham could have done would have been to give the staff time to put out a farewell issue, as well as allowed dialogue around the closure via the comments section on the KNS story announcing the shutdown. I understand that business-driven decisions can be tough to implement, but real newspapermen & women know that putting out an award-winning paper in the same town every week for two decades means that implementing a tough decision like a shutdown also means you owe the community a chance to have its say. The irony of the daily newspaper working so hard to shut down dialogue around a major local business story is just too sad and painful and yes, scary to contemplate.

Alan Sherrod and his wonderful classical music coverage:

(link...)

April Snellings and her fantastic film reviews:

(link...)

Jack Neely and his unique take on everything:

(link...)

More TK, possibly. I will hopefully be revamping my own site in due time, but who knows.

Echoes my thoughts on why Metro Pulse was not offered for sale.

(link...)

"Maybe pulling the plug on the Metro Pulse was just a decision made on economic grounds, but I smell something stale in the paper's shutdown. I smell fear and statements of cowardice. Just this year, the 'alternative' paper tackled issues ranging from why people choose to leave Knoxville to why voters are afraid to vote for Democratic candidates that embody all of the community's views.

Last year, the Metro Pulse gave the community the facts surrounding the fraud allegations facing Pilot Flying J, a story the staff laid out like a "David Mamet" play. They've stormed through the social tension surrounding such issues and have discussed them objectively, while styling the stories in a way that mixes a variety of perspectives with humor and quality journalism to make readers think long and hard about the inner-workings of our scruffy little city.

I think someone didn't like these reflections. I think someone with power (read: money) decided what the public doesn't know and doesn't think about won't hurt them. On the contrary, the truth of the matter is that now our city's maladies will continue to hurt us, but without the bold discussions started by the Metro Pulse, we are no longer equipped to respond."

(link...)

The only times I could keep Metro Pulse down to a 40-hour week were the weeks I was on vacation. Working on vacation was always my choice. I had such a backlog of stories, too many to tell in one lifetime, that I felt I couldn’t waste a single issue, and I didn’t want to annoy readers with a lame “Jack is on vacation” note.

No one was telling us to work that hard. I wouldn’t have done it just for a salary. We did it because we made Metro Pulse what it is, or was, without anyone telling us what to do, and we were proud of it and thought it made a real difference in our city.

This link will stay up:

(link...)

Some people think we should ignore that the KNS got a free ride for $4 million of our tax dollars. I think some portion of that should be paid back. They welched on a contract. It's only fair.

http://monkeyfire.com/mpol/dir_zine/dir_2001/1106/t_insights.html

Kind of interesting, we have actual retro articles from Metro Pulse! Addressing this exact topic!

From February 8th, 2001.

Audit clarifies News Sentinel PILOT payments
Knoxville News Sentinel (TN) - Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Author/Byline: SCOTT BARKER barkers@knoxnews.com
Section: Business
Page: 13
The News Sentinel must pay $72,034.49 in back personal property taxes owed to Knoxville and Knox County under the newspaper’s payment-in-lieu-of- tax agreement, according to a recent audit.

The audit, conducted by Nashville firm Tax Management Associates, also found that the newspaper owes another $84,423.32 in taxes on equipment purchased from 2003 to 2007, though the newspaper qualifies for a tax credit that would eliminate the bill.

The PILOT, which will result in $2.7 million in payments to the city of Knoxville and Knox County by the time it expires in 2011, covers real and personal property taxes on the News Sentinel ’s offi ce building and printing facility off Western Avenue . Dale Baker of Tax Management Associates presented an oral report on the audit to the Knox County Commission on Monday.

Paul Abraham, vice president of finance and business manager of the News Sentinel , said the newspaper will promptly pay the personal property taxes when it receives the tax statement.

“What we reported was based on our understanding of the PILOT agreement and what we were required to pay,” Abraham said. “The audit resulted in further clarification of the state’s rulings on PILOT programs.”

Abraham explained that the personal property taxes on raw materials were factored into the original PILOT. It turns out, however, that state law doesn’t allow personal taxes on raw materials to be included, resulting in the $72,034.49 bill. The audit also found the newspaper had not submitted bills of sale on the purchase of new equipment. Because the equipment qualifies under the PILOT, the newspaper can receive credit for the appropriate amount.

I always thought it was a real stretch to define the outskirts of Mechanicsville as "Center City."

The whole deal was a very complex set of facts contingent on Ray Hand's agreeing to a land swap that put at least part of his operation down in the Coster Shop.

The whole thing was jeopardized when the Coster Shop turned out to be a Super Fund site, so the city put a premium on cleaning the place up.

Trucks hauled contaminated soil out of there day and night in order to meet the KNS deadline (imposed by the date-certain arrival of the gigantic printing press that had already been ordered from abroad).

A portion of the contaminated soil ended up in an illegal dumpsite in Brushy Valley in NW Knox County. Rikki Hall and i spent a couple of afternoons driving around looking for it before the story broke.

The bulk of it ended up in a South Knox County sink hole, where it contaminated a whole watershed and caused a not-inconsiderable scandal and considerable expense to the public. Doug Berry lost his job after giving a deposition that didn't suit TPTB and the utility district had to put water lines through difficult terrain b/c the wells were all ruined. As I recall, the haulers took most of the blame -- but they were clearly being pushed by the city to meet the deadline that would enable all the dominos to fall.

The KNS PILOT document from 2002. Did you feel it was worth $4 million dollars of your tax money to subsidize the Knoxville News Sentinel?

(link...)

Paging Chancellor Weaver...

Part of the deal was to preserve the appearance of keeping jobs downtown, hence magically upending geography and commonsense and referring to Westview as "Center City."

Bill Lyons is the main signer. It is right in the first few pages. He made this deal and has run from it. Why? He should own up to it. The News Sentinel promised jobs and did not deliver. and the City should get the tax money back. All the sorry explaining by Satterfield and Rachel is easy to see through. Bad Paper is on target here.

Bill Lyons is the main signer. It is right in the first few pages. He made this deal and has run from it. Why?

Mr. or Ms. Awful.

My signature is on an included document, the warranty deed conveying the property to the IDB. I signed it in my role as Board Chair representing the seller - KCDC.

I appreciate your attribution of authority in this matter but the parties to the PILOT arrangement were the City of Knoxville (through and with the Industrial Development Board) and the KNS.

On a personal note I have no interest in dodging responsibility for anything. Though I was wearing my KCDC hat I was, of course, aware of the bigger picture and supportive of keeping the KNS in the center city (if not downtown) but my core interest was in the redevelopment of and provision of economic opportunity for the Mechanicsville area.

KCDC was of course proactive with HOPE VI and later with Food City and Cherokee Health. The HOPE VI effort along with the KNS, Cherokee, Food City, and later, the distribution company have added many jobs, health and retail opportunities, and affordable quality housing to an area of the City that needed all.

Just so everybody's on the same page, the News Sentinel is still owned by Scripps. The new parent company of KNS, Journal Media, does not exist yet (which is why it doesn't have a webpage). The SEC and the FCC need to sign off on the deal before it's done. That should happen sometime in 2015.

There is a lot of misinformation in this thread that would take way too much of my time to correct. If you think journalism is easy, take the time and effort to verify what you post.

Does anyone know why Metro Pulse was sold to Brian Conley in the first place?

And Cece, AG cites yet another, more rudimentary, reason to be more irritated with the city than with KNS over this contract. He said (above):

Picking winners and losers in private enterprise is, more often than not, going to have the taxpayer in the role of the loser.

Just looked in on current TDC prez Todd Napier's LinkedIn page to see that he left local engineering firm Barge, Waggner, Sumner and Cannon in May 2001.

His next position listed is his current one with TDC, so--unless he saw some gap in employment (his page doesn't offer any start date at TDC)--Napier was likely TDC prez around 2001-2002.

Does anyone know differently?

The Development Corporation of Knox County

December 2000

Board of Directors
# Pat Wood, Sr., President
# Hank Bertelkamp, Vice-President
# Sharon Miller, Secretary-Treasurer
# Lee Iglehart, Chair, Property & Construction Committee
# Leo Cooper, Chair, Knox County Commission
# Frank Leuthold, Chair, Commission Finance Committee
# Howard Pinkston, Chair, Commission Economic Development Committee
# Tom Schumpert, County Executive
# Richard Maples, Chair, Technology & Training Committee

TDC Staff
# Melissa A. Ziegler, Executive Director
# David Swanner, Director of Economic Development
# Robin Holt, Budget Officer
# Douglas Lawyer, Development Manager
# Brenda Ogle, Research Assistant

November 2001

Board of Directors
# Hank Bertelkamp, President
# Lee Iglehart, Vice-President
# Sharon Miller, Secretary - Treasurer
# Ron Loving
# Bill Baxter
# Richard Maples, Chair, Technology & Training Committee
# Tom Schumpert, Knox County Executive
# Victor Ashe, Mayor, City of Knoxville
# Frank Leuthold, Chair, Commission Finance Committee
# Howard Pinkston, Chair, Commission Economic

TDC Staff
# Melissa A. Ziegler, Executive Director
# Robin Holt, Director of Administration
# Todd Napier, Director of Development
# Brenda Ogle, Administrative Assistant
# Jennifer Flatford, Administrative Assistant

December 2002

Board of Directors
# Hank Bertelkamp, President
# Lee Iglehart, Vice-President
# Sharon Miller, Secretary-Treasurer
# Bill Baxter
# Richard Maples, Chair, Technology & Training Committee
# Mike Ragsdale, Knox County Executive
# Victor Ashe, Mayor, City of Knoxville
# David Collins, Chair, Knox County Commission
# John Griess, Chair, Commission Finance Committee
# Wanda Moody, Chair, Commission Economic Development Committee
# Dr. Clifton Woods

TDC Staff
# Jim Harrison, Executive Vice President
# Todd Napier, Director of Development
# Robin Holt, Director of Administration
# Brenda Ogle, Administrative Assistant
# Jennifer Flatford, Administrative Assistant

(link...)

"Birmingham also noted the Chamber set a record for member retention for the second consecutive year with renewals of more than 90 percent. The organization has about 2,200 members."

No mention of the killing of one important business.

Good work Y'all.

Mr Birmingham, a few questions please:
(1) Why not a word about the death of a long time member, the Metro Pulse...Some claim that the MP voluntarily used the Kevorkian Thanatron....However, the KV Forensics Team has detected your fingerprints on a pillow near the body.Comments? Or is it time to lawyer up?

(2) Will you or Mike Edwards publicly apologize on behalf of the Chamber for the scurrilous public attack on newly appointed BOE District 2 member John Fugate by Chamber luminary J Laurens Tullock? If not why not? Mr Fugate is a long time resident and a distinguished , well respected business man of BOE District 2. Was the attack really directed beyond Mr Fugate toward Jamie Rowe and anyone in District 2 who would dare defy your machine in the election? Do you typically try to intimidate everybody to get what you want?

(3)Why is the Chamber ( along with the Mt Lonas Olympus crowd) trying to buy a District 2 BOE seat for the wife of a Pilot Oil employee? Why flood money into the home district of the BOE member your crony attacked publicly? What is really at stake? Were promises made to people who don't tolerate failure?

(4)Did the Metro Pulse have to be euthanized to avoid too much attention being given to the "Buying of District 2 by Big Oil and Big Chamber"?

Is this thread about Metro Pulse, the BOE, or the KNS PILOT?

I've lost track.

Also about recurring layoffs at KNS (and the jobs lost at MP which were also Scripps) so PILOTS, any related jobs, etc. are relevant but it sounds as though the clock has run out on that.

(I'm sure I'll regret this comment.)

Not sure what Scripps will be looking to flush before the merger with the print properties from Journal next year, but the shut down of the Pulse was, in my opinion, a cold calculated shut down of a viable property in a manner such that the individuals could not form a competing publication to compete with the remnants of the KNS prior to the merger or the surviving operation following the merger with Journal and the movement of all command and control capability to Milwaukee.

In my opinion, the newspaper's new digs were engineered solely by Victor Ashe in his effort to again avoid any public media analysis, criticism, or accountability of his well documented failings as the Mayor of Knoxville.

He had hoped for a plum appointment as the ambassador to England, France, or Germany, however, in a true gesture of presidential genius, George Bush appointed Victor Ashe to serve as ambassador to that most critical of all U.S. allies, the nation of . . . . . Poland.

Apologies. It is upside down. Download it and flip it.

(link...)

This story confirms almost all of the WNFZ radio program earlier this week.

Somewhere is a draft copy of the KNS PILOT. Former Mayor Ashe has some explaining to do. About $4 million dollars worth.

What I think needs to happen now is that the half a dozen or so groups that I've hears are talking about pursuing an alt weekly of some sort need to combine their efforts. It will takes tons of money, so it will be easier if they work together than if they are competing against one another.

But part of me feels that if I were to do it all over again I'd practice a pitch and make a call to Berskshire Hathaway media group To explore getting some real capital and perhaps a touch of quasi ideological/editorial/managerial opposition to position behind a stellar long form weekly. A hellbender press founder works for one of their properties in Virginny, says they make it work and treat their employees well. Hell, they're actually HIRING journalists at the daily where he is. This going against the obvious trendlines. Perhaps that paper's conflicted reporters would at least feel ok with writing stories about how it's main owner thinks he needs to be taxed more.

The audio for WNFZ KNS PILOT is up now:

(link...)

It tracks well with the City View 2001 article:

(link...)

Good reporting is good reporting regardless of the medium.

Jamie said, "And your link? Well I listened and not only did these radio hacks NOT have the TIF agreement in hand, all they did was spout what you claimed on this blog. They didn't even know the TIF had expired - two freakin' years ago."

You owe Mike Howard an apology.

(link...)

You can read it now online. And you can copy and paste now.

Kaplan is right.Connect the dots. This article makes some things clear. First, despite what Bill Lyons said the jobs were taken out of the PILOT. Why? To get a sweetheart deal through. The final nail was the shutdown of the Metro Pulse. It was making money so it must have been to shut down voices of protest and to put the lid on stories. Shameful

is that E.W. Scripps has spun off their newspapers to focus on TV and broadcasting, then KNS drops their money-making paper - the Metro Pulse AND completely sabotages their website - making it extremely difficult to maneuver, follow or comment on.

This is the most ass-backward thing I've ever seen. People aren't reading papers anymore, they go to the internet. Do they honestly think they can make a comeback this way?

I'm just having a really hard time figuring out what in the hell they're doing. It's almost as if they're trying their best to NOT inform people of what's going on in our town, and so far, that's about the only thing they've been truly successful at doing.

This is really devolving into parody. One jackass is having a conversation with his own nyms.

if E.W. Scripps is still in control then maybe this is their intention - leave the papers as lame ducks so the focus will shift to TV and broadcasting.

Here is the other City View article showing Victor Ashe and his dealings with the KNS PILOT. You see, it was for the greater good. That's how Victor can sleep at night after robbing the people of Knoxville and Knox County to the tune of between $4 million and $8 million dollars. And isn't it curious how the Sentinel never went after Victor? Quid Pro Quo? There is no statute of limitations on fraud.

(link...)

Knox County should go to the City of Knoxville for the tax dollars it lost. At least investigate it. Find out who did what and when. And people wonder why people in the county don't trust city government. And no one should trust the Knoxville News Sentinel. Ever. They've show their colors.

Important to remember the mission of the Industrial Development Board. Simple to find:

"The Industrial Development Board may acquire, develop, lease and sell property to facilitate new businesses locating to Knoxville or assist businesses in expanding their operations. The board may also issue tax-exempt revenue bonds to assist in the financing of projects."

Note the duty of the IDB does not include supporting businesses in *contracting* their operations. Only expansions are authorized. Thus job creation net gains are baked into the mission of the IBD.

KNS began contracting virtually upon arrival at the new facility. Thus bringing into question the appropriateness of the various subsidies, abatements, condemnations, transfers, and tax forbearance of public wealth to Scripps.

(link...)

within the city and the county for their "state of the art newsroom and production facilities", they would have closed up show down here a couple of years ago.

But they had a sweetheart deal that wasn't available to other newspapers regarding their real property and ad valorem taxes, so the other papers took harder hits that the KNS in terms of their ongoing operations.

With the rag not paying a full measure of taxes, its easy to see why they take the positions they do with pouring more money into schools, public development, pro administration, public transportation, etc. since virtually only a fraction of their true tax bill is even being paid at all.

Just waiting for lil' Jack McIlroy to get his walking papers and hit the road.

For a review of how Economic Development Funds can be abused, misdirected, and improperly allocated:

(link...)

Watch for the fallout and criminal charges.