After serving as publisher of the Asheville Citizen-Times for about six years, it took less than 10 tweets and 30 minutes for news of Randy Hammer’s retirement at the Gannett publication to spread to the public. According to an article from the Citizen-Times published around noon today, Hammer told his newsroom that the decision to retire was based on his desire to return to writing rather than pressure from Gannett.
In recent weeks, industry publications and bloggers have reported that Gannett, the United States’ largest media company and newspaper publisher, has been going through a series of nationwide layoffs.
In a tweet sent by Citizen-Times Operations and Content Development Editor Polly McDaniel, “We expect a publisher will be brought in from another property” as opposed to a promotion from within the newspaper.
Attempts to reach Hammer for comment were unsuccessful.
Dale Neal of the Citizen-Times reports:
Gathering staffers in the newsroom today, Hammer said his goodbyes to the team he’s led since 2007.
“It has been a great experience, but I would be lying to you if I said these have been the most blissful years of my career,” Hammer said. “We along with the nation have been on an economic roller coast and our company and industry have had to weather a lot of change.”
Click here to read the full article about Hammer’s retirement.
Here are a few questions that McDaniel fielded on Twitter from Xpress reporters Caitlin Byrd and Jake Frankel.
@JakeFrankel I would say it will not affect coverage. We will get a new publisher and continue our dedication to covering this community.
— polly mcdaniel (@pollymcdaniel) August 6, 2013
@MaryCaitlinByrd We expect a publisher will be brought in from another property.
— polly mcdaniel (@pollymcdaniel) August 6, 2013
I thought the position had been left vacant after Virgil Smith was kicked upstairs. My surprise.