Randy Brandt is no longer the editor of the Journal Times. This bit of news came at the very end of an article announcing the appointment of Steve Lovejoy as the interim editor. Lovejoy "succeeds Randolph D. Brandt, who is no longer with the paper" announced the Journal Times.
Now I know the JT is not noted for in depth coverage of news events, but I would think that the departure of their long time editor would rate more than one line.
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Obviously not a mutually amicable departure!
They obviously want Brandt's departure to go away, fast! No open threads on Racine Report and the news staff has been instructed to not release any information.
But then, who will really miss Randy Brandt in the community? He never became involved in the goings on in Racine (except for the Heritage Museum). The only time I saw him in the community was when he was taking a cigarette break on Wisconsin Avenue (and his "comb-over" was blowing in the wind)!
The big question: Will the paper improve? Will it do indepth reporting; will it do investigative series; will they go back to endorsing candidates?
Will Dick Johnson hire a good editor and give him/her the latitude to truly make it a paper worth reading (and not just something to line the birdcage with).
Mr. Johnson, a good newspaper is more than just the amount of advertising column inches that gets reported to Lee Enterprise.
So, why did Randy Brandt leave? Was it mutual or was he fired or is he ill? Does anyone know?
Denis, I saw your post on the open blog of Racine Report. Obviously, nobody cares what happened to Randy Brandt. My theory is that he, for whatever reason, lost the confidence of the publisher and was terminated! Got the axe! There may be specific reasons for his departure, but they probably are under wraps as part of the severence agreement that he received.
It's about time. The quality of the reporting has been atrocious but I can't imagine that Steve Lovejoy would be an improvement since he worked under Brandt. I suppose we should withhold judgement until we see what happens. Under Brandt, any reporter's submissions were accepted regardless of quality. Outside submissions that disagreed with his liberal position were declined, again regardless of quality. Remember the article that offered suggestions on how to sell your house without a professional realtor. It had many errors which were pointed out by a letter from a representative of the state realtor association, I was told. But, under Brandt, I believe that no public corrections were offered. And local realtors are probably their biggest source of advertising income. Similarly, we can get our news without the help of JT professional reporters. More and more people turn to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the internet for up-to-date, complete news coverage. I hope the JT improves now. I guess we'll see.
Well, you cannot put all of the blame on Randy Brandt. Under Publisher, Dick Johnson the paper has lost circulation; raised advertising rates; and added advertising column inches to the paper at the expense of news column inches. And that doesn't even take into account the dismal coverage of local news and absence of investigative reporting and the elimination of candidate endorsements.
Sounds like Lee Enterprises needs to clean house in the position of Publisher, too!
It has also become apparent that there was no "love lost" between Brandt and Johnson. Since Johnson is ultimately in charge at the local level, a personnel decision was made to remove Brandt.
Anon, you don't exactly build credibility by posting anonymously. Mis-spelling the name of the guy you are critisizing portrays a weak foundation for your opinions.
In the age of 24 hour cable news and instant internet news, most news papers are struggling, especially small local ones.
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