Atlanta Journal-Constitution lays off entire news graphics department
Every. Damn. One. Of them.
Or, at least, what was left of the department. There were only four staffers remaining in the News Art department of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, as of Thursday. We seem to recall there were a total 15 or 16 in that department when we last counted, back in 2002.
Charles Jones, a superb graphics reporter at the AJC for the past four years, tells us he was called moments after 5 p.m. today and summoned upstairs to the office of editor Julia Wallace, where he was given the news.
Charles Jones, late of the AJC.
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Charles confirmed information we’ve received from several sources. Also gone are artists Elizabeth Landt — called at home today; her kids had just begun spring break — and Jemal Brinson. Jemal, too, was at home, taking a sick day.
Lisa Transiskus, the news art manager — the AJC’s title for graphics editor — took a buyout. She had run the department since September. A part-time artist, Shannon Peavey, was let go a couple weeks ago in a newsroom sweep of all part-time positions.
The graphics bloodletting didn’t stop with the current graphics department. Michael Dabrowa — who ran the graphics department for about eight years until he was moved into a page design position about two years ago — took a buyout. Longtime graphics reporter Jerome Thompson – who moved to the digital side a while back — also took a buyout.
As far as anyone knows, the planned redesign is still on for later this month. “I’ve not heard anything different,” one source tells us.
Vernon Carne, who retired from the department in 2005, writes:
For over 33 years I was an artist with the paper. In that time over 125 friends worked in News Art — a department that is no longer. I can’t express the feeling that is in my heart and gut right now. A part of me has died.
I am so thankful I retired when the Atlanta Journal and Constitution was still a newspaper. It kills me to see what is happening to the industry. A part of me is dying.
Grey Blackwell worked in the department from 1994 to 1997, first as an artist, then the coordinator for Olympics graphics and then as graphics director. Grey writes:
I came to the AJC after working for about a year as the lone artist for in small paper in Gainesville, GA. Still fresh out of college, I was completely overwhelmed by the size of the AJC graphics department. Being surrounded by so many incredibly talented artists both educated me and inspired me. Overall, it was a great experience. I can’t believe it’s over.
Tim Lee — now an artist with the News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C. — writes:
I was a graphic artist there twice! I was there at the start of my career and then left in 1991 for 12 years of freelancing.
Good but crazy times at the Consti; I’m indebted to them for taking a chance on a young artist two times. Very sad to see it end so abruptly.
Rick McKee of the Augusta Chronicle writes:
Wow. I was just so stunned to hear this. I worked in the AJC News Art dept. in the late 80s/early90s with Vernon and Company pretty much right out of college. It was a fairly humbling experience to be thrown in with such a talented group of folks. I learned so much and made some great memories. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to begin a career.
Gail Hagans Towns, who worked there a year in the late 1990s, wrotes:
News Art gave me, a frustrated city desk reporter, a new way to look at reporting and a new opportunity to work with folks who make people stop, look and really think about what they’re reading in the print editions.
My stint there from 1997 to 1998 was a great time and it was incredible to work alongside folks who had a life outside of breaking news!!!! Folks who were musicians, cake designers, photographers, Web page builders before most of us had even heard of html or css….
I have no doubt that these journalists will keep the story going, and find new and brilliant ways to document history, tell readers what they need to know and more.
Mark Childress worked in News Art in 1984 and 1985. He writes:
The Art Department was full of wonderful people when I worked at the AJC. This current news is pathetic. How can they redesign a paper without an art department? Borrow one from another paper, I guess… it is a sad day, week, year, decade for the dear old AJC, and I imagine Henry Grady is whirling, whirling in his grave.
Duffy Dolan — who worked in News Art for six years, leaving as assistant art director in 1993 — writes:
I’m trying to come up with something to say… It’s a sad thing for sure. In most ways that matter, it was the best job I’ve ever had. I worked with exceptionally talented people in News Art and in the newsroom. It was challenging and exciting and produced work I’m still proud of nearly 20 years later. I’m very sad to see it go.
Ron Coddington – now with USA Today — writes:
I am overwhelmed with nostalgia for the old AJC graphics department, where Vernon took a chance on me back in 1986. I worked my heart out for him and all the talented members on staff. They taught me about journalism, and I am forever in their debt.
Vernon kept a collection of photos of everyone who was on the graphics staff, arranged chronologically from back in the fifties when the primary responsibility of the department was retouching photos. The photos were mounted to a poster that hung on the wall. I hope someone has saved it, for it is a great visual timeline that captures a unique era in the AJC’s history.
The aforementioned Michael Dabrowa — graphics director from 1998 until 2006 or so — writes:
I was sitting in the afternoon budget meeting today looking at the framed graphics on the wall thinking what a singularly decisive loss of storytelling. I have managed some profoundly talented artists, reporters and copy editors at this paper, building a sound platform to present facts, to illustrate stories, to construct the quintessential alternative story form. It seems we were never real, so obvious now that we were not a lasting factor in the mix.
I should have no regrets, it was a brilliant moment, a splendid run, I wager that the time that the department existed will also be considered the paper’s golden years of journalism.
Thank you Vernon, Dale, Walter, Elizabeth, Jerome, Charles, Jemal, Shannon, Rick, Lisa, Anita, Wayne, Aaron, Troy, Rob, Shauna, Katie, Michael and so many more. I am proud to have worked with you all.
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Upon returning home Thursday, shortly before 7 p.m., Charles posted to his Facebook page:
Well it’s been a great ride. I appreciate the opportunity. I guess it’s time to find a new place to dance.
Immediately, he was swamped with well-wishers — some of whom were just then hearing of the bloodbath in Atlanta. Charles — who turned 40 last Friday — seemed quite even-keeled about the whole thing:
All we can control is how we respond to things. I appreciate all of the positivity.
A graduate of both the University of Kentucky (1990) and Clark Atlanta University (1993), Charles Jones worked at the Stuart, Fla., News, the New York Post, the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun, the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel and the Cincinnati Enquirer.
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That’s what we know about at the moment. We suspect page designers, copy desk staffers, photo editors and so on may have taken hits, as well. If you know of more, let us know.
We’ve invited a handful of former AJC graphics staff members to comment. We’ll update this post as comments roll in.
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UPDATE:
I think I made this clear in the story, but just in case I didn’t…
I had a nice, long talk last night with Charles Jones. He confirmed a number of things that I already knew. But I gathered the information above from a number of sources. Hell, once I tweeted the original news, my e-mail was jammed with folks in Atlanta or who knew folks in Atlanta, offering info.
I’m sympathetic to folks who lose their jobs. Believe me: This past Wednesday marks my own six-month anniversary of the loss of my own job. But this is news. And we report the news.
Problems? Issues? Complaints? Talk to me:
chuckapple [at] chuckapple.net
April 9th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
This is a very sad day.
April 9th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
Unbelievable! Absolutely shocking. I hope the best for you all in the very near future. Good luck and Godspeed.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
Just tragic. Good luck to all of you.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
The way some graphics shops have been hit (we’re down to 3 in San Antonio and Houston Chronicle is down to 2 and it’s obviously as bad or worse elsewhere) it begins to make me wonder:
These past few decades where visual journalism ascended — did it ever really, really take in the fiber of newsrooms? Was there every real understanding? Real, down-in-the-DNA buy-in? Was it just the trendy thing and a luxury to be afforded during the Happy Times of gargantuan profit margins?
I understand that when someone is forced to cut the numbers they are forced to cut right now, there is now good, fair, or equitable approach.
But if any news organization that generates its own content really, truly doesn’t think they need local informational graphics … our industry is even bigger trouble than we all know it is.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
I’m speechless.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
any news on who or what will replace the lost talent?
April 9th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
How many of those jobs could have been saved if the paper had decided against wasting money on its latest redesign?
April 10th, 2009 at 12:35 am
I am dying to hear AJC’s rationale on eliminating information graphics. Absolutely does not make sense. Infographics are essential for telling some stories (e.g. stock and housing market trends, locator maps, and explainer diagrams.) This is specialized work that most reporters, designers or editors are unable or unwilling to handle. Incredibly stupid move on their part.
April 10th, 2009 at 1:23 am
I’m going to go sell insurance or something….
April 10th, 2009 at 8:10 am
Shocked! Sad.
I’m wondering if this will be the beginning of a new trend among newspapers, take out the graphics dept.
April 10th, 2009 at 9:57 am
Hello, I work at the AJC. We’ve not made any announcements specifically concerning our graphics department. Whenever we prepare to make significant changes in our business, we strive to communicate them to everyone who may be affected by them. We’re making efforts to return our business to profitability. Beyond that, it’d be inappropriate for me to comment on rumors.
April 10th, 2009 at 10:15 am
Such terrible news. Unfortunately, this not new- the Tulsa World eliminated its entire graphics department — full of awesome, talented veterans — in January 2009, except the department editor. Not sure where this is going for visual journalism, but I don’t think I like it…
April 10th, 2009 at 11:40 am
Happy I decided not to go into newspaper design now…
April 10th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
I am overwhelmed with nostalgia for the old AJC graphics department, where Vernon took a chance on me back in 1986. I worked my heart out for him and all the talented members on staff. They taught me about journalism, and I am forever in their debt.
Vernon kept a collection of photos of everyone who was on the graphics staff, arranged chronologically from back in the fifties when the primary responsibility of the department was retouching photos. The photos were mounted to a poster that hung on the wall. I hope someone has saved it, for it is a great visual timeline that captures a unique era in the AJC’s history.
April 10th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
A very sad day. I’ll be curious to hear how this works out for the AJC… if the readership notices or complains that there is no map to go with the next local story on road-closings, for example. A lot easier to \show\ information like that than to try and explain it in text … and using maps provided by the DOT is not going to look so hot in any fancy-new redesign.
April 10th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Who is laying the paper now? Robots? India?
April 10th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Pai, spudart, and Aaron
I don’t know what is the rationale behind this move but I can say that a couple of weeks ago our department was left with two people (we used to be five). the explanation: “from now on we are going to be a lot more selective with the graphics we choose to produce and the layout guys will help producing locators and charts”. Well, the reality none of that is happening. Designers have no time to produce even locators and we are finding ourselves in a situation in which all we do, all we can do from now on is half-ass maps and charts.
Leaving the AJC without a graphics department is a bad move no matter how you try to explain it. They are shooting themselves in the foot, closing doors to future opportunities and lowering even more the quality of their product in a time when the opposite is needed to save this industry.
BTW if anyone is wondering who Jacqueline Petty is: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jppublicist
April 10th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Wow. I was just so stunned to hear this. I worked in the AJC News Art dept. in the late 80s/early90s with Vernon and Co. pretty much right out of college. It was a fairly humbling experience to be thrown in with such a talented group of folks. I learned so much and made some great memories. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to begin a career.
April 10th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
Thanks, A. Cuadra—The Petty item had “PR” written all it, and rather inept PR at that, given that the news is that the ENTIRE (which means, as I understand the definition of “entire,” 100 per cent) of the News Art Department is now gone.
As I read this, I kept wondering: So, if there’s no News Art Department, just who is going to help do/tweak/finalize the redesign if, as the article indicates, it’s still on? (”As far as anyone knows, the planned redesign is still on for later this month. ‘I’ve not heard anything different,’ one source tells us.”) Unless it’s going to be nothing but words—which, though gray, would have the distinction of going counter to other redesigns, where there is BIG, BIGGER, BIGGEST art at the expense of words&news.
Good luck to all, those who have departed, and those still there, STILL trying to passionately practice their craft. Karen Callaway (retired Chicago Tribune-ite)
April 10th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
I echo the concerns people have about graphics departments getting the boot en masse. It seems peculiar that the AJC now has fewer graphic artists than the Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle. Go figure.
The truth, though, will come when a story needs to be told visually and there’s no one there to tell it. However, that’s not much different than a conventional story that goes unreported due to lack of staffinng.
April 10th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
Hi, Karen.
The redesign is definitely still on. It’s been pushed back a few times, though, so nailing down an actual date is a bit difficult. When I wrote my article — a little more than 24 hours ago — I used the best info I had. I might try to see if I can nail down someone on a precise date, but given some of the reaction I’m getting from a few AJC folks (you know who you are), I might not be getting any more comments from anyone in Atlanta for a long, long time. Sigh.
(And this for covering solid news — for our niche — at a paper that USED to be known for solid investigative journalism, too. Double sigh.)
Having said that: Yeah, the new design will be text-heavy. If you’ll follow that link in the story, it’ll take you to our post showing working prototypes that a key AJC designer showed in a webinar at Poynter.org in February.
Shortly after, I posted again about what I saw as a trend toward more prose and perhaps fewer visuals in recent redesigns:
http://www.visualeditors.com/apple/2009/02/new-design-trend-lots-of-text/
And, y’know, that wouldn’t bother me so much. If I thought that’s what readers needed. But I’m not convinced that’s why these papers are cutting back on visuals. They’re cutting back because it’s CHEAPER.
Gone are the days when the readers or the journalism was Job One. Job One these days is propping up the company’s stock price.
If anything, this will make the doomsayers’ prophecies come true just that much more quickly.
April 10th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Not sure how this will pan out, its looking bleak. I was sitting in the afternoon budget meeting today looking at the framed graphics on the wall thinking what a singularly decisive loss of storytelling. I have managed some profoundly talented artists, reporters and copy editors at this paper, building a sound platform to present facts, to illustrate stories, to construct the quintessential alternative story form. It seems we were never real, so obvious now that we were not a lasting factor in the mix.
I should have no regrets, it was a brilliant moment, a splendid run, I wager that the time that the department existed will also be considered the paper’s golden years of journalism.
Thank you Vernon, Dale, Walter, Elizabeth, Jerome, Charles, Jemal, Shannon, Rick, Lisa, Anita, Wayne, Aaron, Troy, Rob, Shauna, Katie, Michael and so many more. I am proud to have worked with you all.
-michael
April 11th, 2009 at 9:11 am
News Art gave me, a frustrated city desk reporter, a new way to look at reporting and a new opportunity to work with folks who make people stop, look and really think about what they’re reading in the print editions.
My stint there from 1997 to 1998 was a great time and it was incredible to work alongside folks who had a life outside of breaking news!!!! Folks who were musicians, cake designers, photographers, Web page builders before most of us had even heard of html or css….
I have no doubt that these journalists will keep the story going, and find new and brilliant ways to document history, tell readers what they need to know and more.
Gail
April 11th, 2009 at 9:19 am
The Art Department was full of wonderful people when I worked at the AJC (84-85). This current news is pathetic. How can they redesign a paper without an art department? Borrow one from another paper, I guess…. it is a sad day, week, year, decade for the dear old AJC, and I imagine Henry Grady is whirling, whirling in his grave.
April 11th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
I was a reporter at the AJC from 1995-2006; many of the people who commented above were my colleagues, to whom I give great respect. The AJC had excellent artists and designers and very smart thinkers about how to tell stories in different ways. The paper has been making inexplicable decisions for a while now, but if they were ranked, this one would certainly be close to the top of the list. To say that you don’t need designers and artists in an age when online makes visual journalism more necessary, and offers so many opportunities to make it richer — gah, I’m the word person and I have no words for this.
April 19th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
Going back to the editorial structure of 1890 will not save the news industry. With fond memories of Paige, stephen, vernon and walter — john 95-96
April 20th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
After decades of papers striving to be visual storytellers. Years of specialized training is thrown away. At some point management will see how their decision has impacted the depth of their paper. Hard to believe. I worked at the AJC from 1988 to 1991. It was an amazing staff with illustrators that could turn a centerpiece illustrators like taking a drink of water. The talent was amazing. A great place to work and learn. I’ve always wanted to go back and visit, but didn’t, now it is too late. I’m so sorry for the staff, those who were let go and those who strive on to try to make it work.