A Nonanswer On Tierney’s Future

A lot to write about the bankruptcy filing of Philadelphia Media Holdings, but I’m trying to think first for once. (About the content. The jokes are already done.)

I needed to write about this, though. Daily News editor Michael Days sent out a Q&A the company sent out to its employees. And check this out:

Will Brian continue to be CEO? Will the management team stay in place?

Brian as well as the rest of the management team remain actively engaged and committed to this company.

You have to give management over at 400 N. Broad credit. Not too many companies have the ability to dodge a question in their own Q&A! Impressive.

Tierney: Chasing Cars, Wielding Bats

There’s a big ol’ Steve Volk article in February’s Philadelphia magazine about Brian Tierney and the Inquirer, and how newspapers are dying if not dead, and Philebrity and Phawker, and Will Bunch and norgs. Norgs! I know. I feel like I’ve wandered into a time portal to late 2005, too. Man, can you believe that two Central Missouri State professors just found the 43rd Mersenne prime?! That Bush sure messed up during Hurricane Katrina! Pretty sweet that there were parliamentary elections in Iraq, recently, though.

But there is one pretty amazing story. Take it, Newspaper Guild representative Bill Ross:

And Ross says a couple of people emerged from a private meeting with the CEO claiming that he’d spoken to them, in his 12th-floor office, with a baseball bat in his hands. Ross also adds that in January, Tierney took to patrolling the parking garage, watching to see what time employees were arriving to work and asking managers about those who were late. “That’s what I’m getting calls about now,” says Ross. “He’s walking around the parking garage. If he gets hit by a car, it’ll be his own fault.”

First off: Tierney needs to watch out for this car. I mean, that’s probably the fastest one in the whole lot. Second off: The Phillies should totally sign Tierney as a bat off the bench.

1978 Called. It Wants Its Newspaper Back [Phillymag]

Abridged Daily News Columnists: Brian Tierney Special Edition

There’s only one column in today’s Daily News, but it’s by Publisher Brian Tierney, so let’s make fun of it for a little bit. (Post-writing editor’s note: Or maybe for a long time, like a billion words or so. Whoops.)

WHAT HAPPENED last week was like a scene from a holiday movie.

Did an angel show Brian Tierney what it would be like if he had never lived in a gimmicky, schmaltzy way?

In the face of the biggest demand for toys in years, the Philadelphia Area Marine Corps Reserve’s Toys for Tots program was experiencing its smallest contributions in memory. With a week to go in its campaign to help needy children, the toy total was less than half its usual count. And, in the most challenging economy in decades, there was little hope for improvement. Things looked bleak.

Oh. That’s not good, but I don’t really see how it’s much like Brian Tierney being visited by three ghosts and learning the true meaning of Christmas.

We started a campaign in the

I just want to point out that, currently, this is the last part of the story in regular text; everything else is in italics from this point out. I totally haven’t italicized my whole site in a while, but it happens to the best of us.

Daily News, Inquirer and Philly.com to alert our readers to this need.

A week later, 40,000 more toys came through our doors, to put the total at over 60,000. The increased cash contributions are still being tabulated.

This “Miracle on Broad Street” illustrates the extraordinary power of our newspapers - to highlight a problem, galvanize our community and make a real difference, every single day.

Let’s call a moratorium on “Miracle on [x] Street” references unless it really works from now on. This is about the third or fourth thing I’ve heard called “Miracle on Broad Street” this year (including the Phillies’ World Series win, which took place in between 10th and Darien Streets).

And, uhm, this scenario doesn’t sound much like Miracle on 34th Street. The only way this would be like a Christmas movie is if people donated Red Ryder carbine-action 200-shot range model air rifles. (Note: Please do not notify me of a movie called The Christmas Toy Drive or something that is about a newspaper and its heroic toy drive.)

More »