City Desk is working on compiling a list of the dismissed, which reportedly includes at least one big industry name.

Meanwhile, one question looms: Are these layoffs? Or just strategic reductions aimed at redundant positions, as Post management would have us believe?

Consider the case of one dismissed employee. This individual was told that the "numbers have been bad on the digital side and because of that, that's why they're doing it."

Another victim of the reduction-in-force reports that the motivation is that the Post is moving to streamline its operations.

Updates to come.

City Desk is not printing names just yet. We've contacted several allegedly dismissed employees but have not yet received direct confirmation from them.

When asked if the Web site has laid off employees, Washington Post spokesperson Kris Coratti responded with this statement: "As part of the work we’re doing to turn around the business that supports our journalism, there were a small number of individual positions eliminated as a result of efficiencies we have found through our new structure and through new technology, and those have taken place both in print and online."

A top Post official cautioned against using the term "layoff" to describe reductions at washingtonpost.com, insisting that any dismissals are "targeted" at duplication of work between the Web site and the newsroom.

Washingtonpost.com is part of Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, the Post Co.'s online publishing subsidiary. The site's employees and those of the main newsroom are in the middle of a merger operation that promises to end more than a decade of separation. Since washingtonpost.com launched in 1996, it has been located in Arlington, the better to allow it to explore the possibilities of the Internet unburdened by newsroom curmudgeonliness.

There's a labor dimension to all this as well. Putting washingtonpost.com in Arlington saved Post officials the hassle of dealing with a union for its Web site workers. Now that the merged operation will be located in D.C., any dot-com staffers who make the move are possible card-carrying union members.

Though the divide helped to incubate a fine Web site, this is 2009: No longer can a media company afford to have its limbs scattered about the region. The parallel operations on opposite sides of the Potomac River did indeed spawn some duplication of functions, and the Post these days is all about zeroing out redundancies.

However, it's unclear at this point whether the dismissals now afoot at washingtonpost.com all fall into the efficiency-reaping category. More reporting must be done. Stay tuned.

There are so many things I love about Peapod. One, I don't have to wait in grocery-store lines anymore. Two, the Peapod people are fantastic. Three, the deliveries are painless and easy to schedule. Four, the Web-shopping interface is easy to navigate.

Yet one important consideration falls in the minus column, and that's Peapod's uncanny insistence on wrapping virtually everything in its own plastic bag. It's as if the Peapod people have to fill a quota of plastic-bag use, as if the employee handbook had a rule that reads: Any employee found to have used fewer than 100 plastic bags per delivery shall receive a formal reprimand signed by the Regional Manager.

I've provided a photo above to illustrate the Peapod plastic bag crush. The context here is that individuals with whom I am familially associated ordered a processed Pillsbury bread product. Well, that product alone occupied an entire plastic bag on our last delivery, as shown in the photo. It wouldn't be worth noting if it were an aberration, but it's not. Over the weeks, we've gotten single containers of yogurt, single cucumbers, single everything---each wrapped in its own plastic bag. Prior to a Peapod delivery, we must be sure to clear out some space to may way for the colony of plastic bags that we gain.

For 15 years, Metro Weekly competed against the Washington Blade for its slice of readers and advertisers here in Washington, D.C.

So it was perhaps appropriate that Metro Weekly would issue a statement upon the death of the Blade. You know, something respectful, deferential---all class. Well, the first paragraph of that statement sure fit the bill. Here's how it reads:

As longtime members of the D.C. LGBT community, as well as the community of journalists, we are always saddened to see a newspaper or magazine cease publication. While we offer our condolences to the staff of the Washington Blade, we also offer our congratulations on what they and their predecessors achieved over the course of four historic decades of LGBT journalism.

Perfect. Stop right there, Metro Weekly!

But it didn't stop right there. It included another paragraph, one that essentially robs the first of all its sincerity. Here we go:

All of us at Metro Weekly take great pride in serving our community, and we look forward to continuing our growth as the source for local LGBT news, politics and entertainment.

Choose whatever morbid cliche you prefer. Dancing on the grave. The body isn't even warm.

The juxtaposition here is just too plain. While the 40-year-old Blade is dead, hey, folks, we're growing! Talk about finding glee. The point here is that the day on which the Washington Blade got shut down, Metro Weekly is making it all about Metro Weekly. Bad politics.

Co-publisher Sean Bugg says he's "not going to dance on the graves of any publication...We're not overjoyed that the Blade is shut down." At the same time, says Bugg, "I am a businessperson...and from a business perspective, there are opportunities for us, and I intend to fully explore them."

As might be expected of two teams that bump into one another editorially and advertisorally all the time, Blade and Metro Weekly staffs aren't terribly fond of one another. Inside the Blade, for instance, Metro Weekly was known as the "gay bar rag." Bladers considered themselves of a higher journalistic order.

"Obviously I don't have long, deep conversations with the Blade," says Bugg. "We’ve been competitors so it’s not like we’ve been hanging out together."

Kevin Naff, the editor of the Blade as of its last breath, says that he and his colleagues are banding together to found a Blade-like publication as soon as possible. When asked to comment on Metro Weekly's statement, Naff said, "Good luck to them."

When asked to comment on the prospects of Naff & Co.'s startup, Bugg said, "Good luck to anyone who wants to try starting something from scratch" in this market. "I only mean that somewhat sarcastically."

Here's the way Benton tells it: His people and the Blade's corporate overlords were in the very final stages of completing the ownership transfer. Around Nov. 6, Benton was waiting for some notes from the other side's lawyers on "finalizing the contract for sale." But they got no notes. "We got silence," says Benton. "We weren't in touch."

Next thing Benton knows, the Blade is dead.

Here's a bit more detail on just what the deal would have involved. According to Benton, the idea was to acquire the Blade free and clear of the debt load that was killing it. Benton also wanted to "retain as many of the employees as possible and continue business as usual." Money was also part of the deal, though Benton won't say just yet how much he was offering.

Perhaps it wasn't enough to offset the always-high legal fees involved in transferring ownership of a paper. Or perhaps it was---who knows at this point. More updates to come.

The press release states that Benton's bid to acquire the Blade was accepted but that the transaction never went through. "The Blade was closed without Benton's advanced knowledge on Monday," says the release.

"Benton said he regrets that the negotiations to complete the transfer of ownership failed to be completed, and that as a result he is unable to carry forward the Blade, its legacy, its employees, and its service to its community regionally and nationally."

The release does not state how this deal fell apart. City Desk has begun making inquiries on the matter.

Cathy Renna, a spokesperson for Benton, says that Benton is not part of the efforts of former Blade staffers to launch a new Blade-like publication. However, Benton would be interested in talking to them, says Renna.

PRESS RELEASE:

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS OWNER CONFIRMS HIS COMPANY WON BID TO BUY & PERPETUATE WASHINGTON BLADE PRIOR TO ITS SHUTDOWN

Washington, D.C., Nov. 18 -- In response to media inquiries and an apparent information blackout by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), Nicholas F. Benton, owner of the Falls Church News-Press, a Washington, D.C.-area weekly, confirmed today that his corporation, Benton Communications, Inc., had won a bid from parties that included the SBA in September to obtain the assets of the Washington Blade from its bankrupt parent company for purposes of a seamless perpetuation of the nation's oldest gay community newspaper. The Blade was closed without Benton's advanced knowledge on Monday.
Benton said he regrets that the negotiations to complete the transfer of ownership failed to be completed, and that as a result he is unable to carry forward the Blade, its legacy, its employees, and its service to its community regionally and nationally.
Benton said that, after responding to a request for proposal in early September, he was contacted by agents of the sellers, including the SBA, later in that month and told Benton Communications' bid had been successful. Benton Communications won based on a number of factors, including: 1.the company's record of 19 years of the successful management and publication of an award-winning weekly newspaper not unlike the Blade in the and in same region, 2. its stated commitment to perpetuate the Blade's legacy, to offer on-going employment to the Blade's existing staff, and to continue the Blade's service to its readership and community of interest, and, 3. Benton's own history of involvement and leadership in the Blade's community of interest, including Benton Communications' standing as an officially certified "LGBT Business Enterprise" by the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. There was also a cash offer which the SBA confirmed that Benton Communications had the resources to cover.
The process to complete the sale continued through e-mail, telephone and mail contact until as recently as Nov. 6, just 10 days before the news came on Nov. 16 that the Blade and other Window Media publications had been abruptly terminated.
"Everything was in place, although moving slowly, to make the seamless transition we hoped for. But I remain unaware of what happened, and as a result of Monday's events, the Blade is gone after 40 years of publication, its employees are out of work, and the nation's and region's LGBT community has been stripped of an invaluable institution." Benton said.

But I must say that it was Continetti who grabbed me this morning, right from the start of his piece. If ever there was a perfect lede, this was it:

Like a lot of people, as soon as I got my copy of Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue," I immediately thought of the German literary critic Hans Robert Jauss.

At that moment, I mind-melded with Continetti, because that's the very reaction I have when I pick up just about any book. When I recently finished off Hank Stuever's delightful Tinsel, all I could think of was Jauss. Sure, I was thinking of Tammie and Blake and Caroll and Marissa and all the other great characters in Stuever's narrative, but it was Jauss that really preoccupied me.

Last night, I grabbed Honey, I Wrecked the Kids. I began reading about such child behavior-influencing techniques as redirection and distraction, not to mention the important distinctions between praise and encouragement. But I was really obsessing the whole time over the teachings of none other than Jauss. He provided the frame of reference for the entire affair. Yup, Jauss.

Same dynamic applied to this morning's newspaper reading. I was checking out the Post's stories on the closing of the Washington Blade and about the killing of a 9-year-old in Columbia Heights. People like Lou Chibbaro Jr. and Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham were mentioned in those stories. And they were so overshadowed, yet again, by Jauss.

Like a lot of people, I just wander around thinking about nothing but Jauss. I've got to get together with Continetti and talk some Jauss.

Tomorrow morning, the staff of the defunct Washington Blade will meet to launch a new publication that does pretty much what the Blade has done/did since 1969---cover gay Washington.

It just won't be called the Blade anymore.

"The staff is united," says current/former Blade editor Kevin Naff. "We’re all together. Our first meeting for our new venture is tomorrow morning."

The staffers don't yet have a name for the newspaper.

Not a dumb move at all: The Blade as a standalone publication runs a profit; however, not enough of a profit to keep its debt-troubled parent company, Window Media, in the black. According to Naff, Window is filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protections, which means that it's ceasing operations. Naff said that he was expecting Chapter 11, which would have allowed the company to restructure.

So what Naff and Blade Publisher Lynne Brown are trying to do is essentially replicate the Blade without the debt load.

The staffers sure won't be wasting any time finishing up old Blade business: They were given till 3 pm today to pack up. When asked if the company was handling the shutdown in a professional manner, Naff responded, "I should probably not comment."

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Reports are coming in that the Washington Blade is closing effective this week. The source for the news is our sister paper, Creative Loafing Atlanta. City Desk has made several calls to the Blade but hasn't yet gotten through. More to come.

UPDATE, 11:46 A.M.: Queerty posts a nice wrapup on what went down. Seems that the Blade's publisher, Window Media, posted a note on the front door of its Atlanta offices saying, hey, we're done. It instructs employees to return on Nov. 18 to retrieve belongings and get the lowdown on "separation stipulations."

UPDATE, 12:55 P.M.: Politico's Michael Calderone reports that Blade staffers are already planning a new venture. Editor Kevin Naff tells him, "The Blade staff is united and ready to continue the paper's long-standing mission. The first meeting for our new venture is Tuesday and we welcome the community's input as we move forward."

photo by Darrow Montgomery

Marty Petty, the former publisher of the St. Petersburg Times and the Hartford Courant, was named this morning chief executive officer of the Creative Loafing chain of alt-weeklies.

Petty's hiring comes at a time of transition for the Creative Loafing papers. In late August, a bankruptcy proceeding forced an ownership change in the chain, taking it out of the hands of former owner Ben Eason and placing it with Atalaya Capital Management, a hedge fund that was Creative Loafing's primary creditor. To manage the newspapers, Atalaya hired a management team that Petty will oversee. The chain has papers in Washington, Chicago, Atlanta, Charlotte, Tampa, and Sarasota.

According to a company press release, Petty said, "I'm invigorated by the possibilities to deepen relationships with our readers and advertisers and expand our influence in our communities. The coverage areas which have differentiated and distinguished the alternative press historically may be more important than ever."

Were I the editor of Colbert I. King, I would not let him write columns like this one. It's about Fort Hood and the betrayal of trust. I like King when he sticks to Fort Dupont, Fort Totten, and Fort Reno. That is, forts within the District of Columbia. Once the Pulitzer-winning king ventures out of city boundaries, he sounds just like any other national pundit.

Last week's local media story was the departure of John Solomon from the editorship of the Washington Times. The previous week's media story was the fistfight in the Style section of the Washington Post. Guess which one got more attention?

We won!

Following the debut of the Post's redesigned weather page on the back of the Metro section, we griped to the heavens that it was a huge demotion from the old approach.

I was particularly scandalized that the extended outlook was dispatched to Siberia on the bottom left of the entire presentation.

And then, they listened! The old position of the extended outlook has been restored, as you can see above: You get several days of forecast in there, for your scanning ease. Now you can, with one quick glance, determine whether you can play tennis in a couple of days or you need to buy a new coat, or whatever.

The Washington Times has historically placed a real low value on transparency. For years, the place ran corrections only at gunpoint. It was nearly impossible to get newsroom leaders on the line to defend their journalism, a task that often required going through a flak and then getting a "no comment."

Editor John Solomon changed a lot of that. Having taken over the newsroom in early 2008, he was not only easy to get on the phone, but he'd talk your ear off, evangelizing about this great new initiative or that one.

Yet he's not helping too much on the great unanswered question of this new round of weirdness at the Times.

Where is he? Why hasn't he shown up after the Sunday/Monday firings of the paper's top execs?

And current management isn't helping too much with the info flow. At a staff-wide meeting on Monday, new top dog Jonathan Slevin reportedly asked staffers to refer media calls to the PR ace that the Times had hired. Way to act on industry principles, Slevin: Reporters and editors should never be asked to refer calls to anyone; that's the very behavior that they rightly declaim every single day.

Anyhow, the freedom-of-expression-chilling request of Slevin has meant business for Don Meyer of Rubin Meyer Communications. Meyer has been in the PR biz for about 20 years and has worked for the Times going back about five.

Here's a Q&A with one smooth newspaper mouthpiece:

Question for Don Meyer: What's up with Solomon?

Don Meyer response: I don’t have any updates on his status at this time. When additional information becomes available, I will be happy to pass it along to you.

Question for Don Meyer: So is he resigning or something?

Don Meyer response: I am sorry to do this to you, but I don’t have any information on his stautus right now.

Question for Don Meyer: Does anybody have that information?

Don Meyer response: Somebody does.

Question for Don Meyer: How many inquiries have you gotten about the Washington Times?

Don Meyer response: Quite a few...I've received a dozen calls.

Question for Don Meyer: Were you aware that management advised reporters and editors in yesterday's meeting not to answer media calls and to route inquiries to you?

Don Meyer response: Oh yeah, I wasn’t aware that he said it in the meeting, but my guidance to him was that media calls be directed to me.

Question for Don Meyer: Why should all media calls be directed to you?

Don Meyer response: Because they have decided to utilize me as appointed spokesperson for this particular announcement and so they have asked me to handle it. It ensures that everyone gets the information from a reliable source.

Statement to Don Meyer: That seems to run contrary to the spirit of a newsroom.

Don Meyer repartee: Listen, this is actually how a lot of organizations handle sensitive announcements, which is they want one spokesperson speaking to the media, and it tends to be an accepted practice in corporate and organizational settings.

Statement to Don Meyer: Right, and again, it runs contrary to the spirit of a newsroom.

Don Meyer repartee: The newsroom might not have the latest information involving the executive situation and may not be the best source of information anyway.

Pause in interview to ponder that last Don Meyer comment: Way to keep the newsroom in the loop, Washington Times!

Question for Don Meyer: What do you think of John Solomon?

Don Meyer response: I think he’s a very capable journalist. He's done great things for the Washington Times.

Question for Don Meyer: Will he continue doing those great things?

Don Meyer response: When I have more information on the status of John Solomon vis-a-vis the Washington Times, I will be happy to pass it along.

Question for Don Meyer: So is the financial state of the paper the cause of the uncertain status of John Solomon?

Don Meyer response: I gotta give you credit for trying, but honestly I don’t have any additional information.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

And then there's the whole John Solomon angle. The outgoing, popular newsroom leader hasn't been seen since the putsch. The staff-wide meeting yesterday featured no mention of the guy who happens to top the masthead. Solomon isn't commenting and even people who consider him a close friend are reporting no contact with him.

One possible reason for Solomon's scarcity: He has lost his parking spot. According to Washington Times sources, the signs that reserved spaces for top company officials have been stripped away, including the one for Solomon.

So even if he did have plans to come back, where the hell is he going to park? At the Arboretum?