I haven’t written a blog for awhile and after this one..it might just be my last..but here goes.
This past week, as I discovered the names of many talented journalists at the Argus Leader who were getting canned in the company’s latest strategy move to keep afloat or relevant..or whatever… I also learned that the former senior editor..now elevated to the obscure title of “content strategist” was taking pot shots at every news reporter in town except the two guys sitting next to him on his appropriately named “100 Eyes Webcast.” ( So named because I doubt if it is seen by more than 50 people a week.)
I get angry when people I know in the broadcast news business, who work every bit as hard at their craft and are as dedicated to journalistic excellence as anyone at the Argus..get blindsided by this guy who thinks he has a finger on the pulse of Sioux Falls area residents and figures they (using the obvious “bicycle” metaphor here) need to “Roll with the changes” the Argus is offering at nine bucks a month to go digital with him.
Here’s an excerpt from his webcast. I want you to note in particular the lack of any feeling whatsoever by he or his toadies after having just had so many of their long time colleagues like Joel Brown, Janna Farley, Jon Walker, Peter Harriman, Ron Hoffman, Doreen Weinstein and others unceremoniously “streamlined” right out the door. But, hell..that’s their business not mine. I want you to watch this video to the end where he lays into broadcast reporters..wherein lies my beef.
http://www.argusleader.com/videos/news/local/2014/11/19/19277671/
What Mr. Strategist knows and isn’t saying is that when his two pet reporters need more time for investigative reporting or to read Cory Heidelberger’s blog for ideas, they will have it and all the page space they need.
He also knows that stations like Keloland turn out five newscasts and one web newscast a day..while maintaining the top web site in the state. Reporters, including anchors, are expected to contribute daily packages that tell the story with facts and interviews while fitting it into the newscast time restraints..or going live from the scene when a situation warrants.
I like getting my Argus Leader in the morning. I think it’s gotten better since adding the USA Today section. I like a lot of the people who work there..although many of them and their paychecks..have been sent packing.
My computer says I’ve used up my limit of free time on the Argus web page without paying the nine bucks.
Think I’ll pass.
38 Responses
I think Mr. Lalley’s comments regarding broadcast journalists are actually a back door compliment. When things go bad, attack your competition. It’s nice to know that broadcasters got their attention. 😉
The Argus has forgotten the we in many ways are still a small town. We are now semi big city, but remain fast with our small town ideas, work ethic and loyalty. I would love to know how many people just read the comics, obits and some sports. Stu Whitney has written some good stories recently and also Mick Garry. Terry V. does a fine job with the Jacks, but most of the national stuff just gets skimmed. And any local coverage may cover the story, but omit any box or line score. It is sad to see.
Doug,
I don’t really care if you like me or what I say. That’s not why I’m responding here. But I think you should probably have more consideration for the people who are no longer working here. You don’t know the circumstances of each case, and I don’t expect you to, but I would think that if you have the respect for these folks that you suggest perhaps “outing” them isn’t the best idea you ever had.
As I said, you can say whatever you want about me. You’ve known me a long time. You know that I won’t object.
Cheers,
Patrick
I have not subscribed to the Argus for many years. My budgie died back in the 1900′ s and I have had no need for it. As for the doing digital thing, … the production level of the videos is really amateur at best. Example would be in the link you put in this blog : http://www.argusleader.com/videos/news/local/2014/11/19/19277671/ Aside from the poorly executed chroma key set, Mr. Lalley and the other Argus representatives are very unprofessional in appearance and demeanor. Is this the the way the Argus wants to be portrayed as to their patrons? Too Many uhh , ummm’s. and after Patrick Lalley says “as a managing editor, you deal with a lot of other stuff”, there is a whispered voice in the clip, asking in confusion ” what ? “. Leave Video to the Broadcasters that know how it is done and focus on getting the content for print better. Would you buy a sub sandwich from a Goodyear Tire service center just because they decided they could make a few extra bucks while saying they are “rolling with the changes “? Thanks for this blog, Doug. I had no idea that the Argus was run by … well, sorry. no words can describe them.
I saw the Argus Media facebook post regarding the Argus re-org but didn’t realize that another layoff was part of the re-org. Unfortunately, re-orgs and layoffs go together like peanut butter and jelly. I will miss seeing the above named journalists articles in the AL as they wrote the stories with the local flavor. I suppose the AL will just continue to re-publish the USA today stories and forget the local news unless of course, it’s about Huether and his side kick Darrin Smith.
I still subsribe to the Argus, and i guess it will be a hard habit to quit. Something about the newsprint and the physical paper being there is a constant for me. I know a couple of the people listed and think they are very good journalists, and very professional. I dont look at the online version and just enjoy the regular paper. One comment i have been wanting to make for a long time…. Whoever came up with the idea of the half page thingy should have been sent packing. I put it right up there with the guy who came up with the idea of NEW Coke. Always enjoy your blog Doug!
A couple years back my friend John Papendick at the Aberdeen American News wrote an article he wanted to call “I Remember When I Worked at a Newspaper”. He instead went with “It Has Been A Busy Day at the Radio Station”. He talked about the things that a newspaper employee now had to do. Radio and TV were ahead of the curve on some things like chopping employees and adding duties to those left without an increase in pay. Newspaper, and especially mega companies like Gannet, have been way behind the curve on how to adjust. Remember, it wasn’t that long ago they bought up all the local area papers as a way to get the Menards flier into more hands! And it also wasn’t that long ago that they gave their “retiring” CEO a $20 million bonus after he had gone through the initial wave of slashing employees.
But I will say this. If you think the changes at the Argus are done, you are mistaken. But always sad to see professionals lose out in the shuffle. One person let go had just moved to town about 4-6 weeks ago.
I was alarmed when I moved up to the north country (Aberdeen) that we couldn’t get a daily Argus here. Yes – it is true. I have lost that alarm because I get tired of just hearing about the news in Sioux Falls or the Sanford Center or …. I appreciate the fact that Kelo has kept strong with their bureau reporters sharing news that takes place outside of just one growing area.
Whether we like it or not, whether we want it or not, everything changes. There is an expression that goes something like, “if you are are not constantly growing, you are dying.” That is true for businesses as well. In order for the Argus to survive it had to change to fit into the world of internet users, yet keep a few things the same for the people who for a variety of reasons are not internet users, and appeal to what the most people are interested in.
I used to get the paper copy of the Argus. There were some good things about that, and not so good things about it. I have absolutely no interest in sports, so I always threw away the sport section without even looking at it. Then there was the issue of putting it in the re-cycle dumpster. Standing outside when it is bitter cold to put the newspaper (and all the advertisements) in the re-cycle dumpster was getting to be very difficult. I was delighted when the newspaper had grew into the e-edition format. No more standing in the bitter cold to feed the dumpster.
In general, I still like reading the Argus. Being able to read the obituaries is a part of my job. I am still not interested in sports, so I can easily skip over that without even giving it a glance.
The only thing I am disappointed with is the “100 Eyes.” It is not captioned and it is not text format to read after the interviews. I suppose that cost too much to have, but it would be nice for those of us who cannot hear as well.
Unfortunately, and I know this because it has happened to me, that when there is “re-structuring,” ‘re-organizing” to meet the needs of the people served, there are people who will lose their employment.
And yes, the Argus, like most other businesses, including Kelo will continue to change. Some people will like it, some will not, it is a fact of life. Do it or die.
Doug Lund is one of the most arrogant of all I have seen. Watching him at the Rock n Roll Hall Of Fame just showed me how he really is nothing more than a TV image. His personality in person stinks. Just my opinion.
Jon Walker, too?! I couldn’t listen to the diatribe since I’ve used up my quota of complimentary views per month. Just an overview here. I might pay 9 bucks a month if it would give me access…cherry picking rights…to several papers, like a clipping service. If I pay nine bucks a month to al the papers I used to scan, maybe reading an article or two a week, not to mention the lack of a good crossword, I’d be broke.
The trouble with modern lay-offs is the decisions are usually made by the size of the paycheck (which often translates into talent or experience) rather than “last in, first out” which is also unfair to the people involved, but perhaps less disruption to readers or viewers who expect the best for their money but often are getting newbies instead. Glad I bailed when I did, speaking of the media in general. Long ago, an old friend who worked at the Argus long before the current purge said “Monday mornings were the worst when you looked at the empty desks that were occupied on Friday.” I don’t see that newspapers have made any serious efforts at modernization other than “editing” the staffs and stretching the articles beyond boredom.
I suspect the Argus…like many papers its size…is in a trap. Too big a market to fail, to small to be a wild success. I don’t think papers in places like Marshall and Brookings are having the same “mood swings.” Personally, I think it’s time for Pat to bring back the Tempest or at least have a “get out of town” edition of the Argus. Oh, they’ve already left?
I remember when the Argus would regularly chronicle the comings and goings of local broadcast news personnel and woe betide the individual who only provided a “no comment”. Of course that was back when the Argus had a roomful of reporters…not a handful of “content specialists” and “cross-platform information directors”…or whatever other gaseous title they can construct. Bald-n-Surly’s attack of the vapors because Doug put names and faces to this latest purge is…disingenuous. Some terrific reporters remain, to be sure. But a lot has been lost.
As BnS looks over his shoulder at those electronic journalists he fears/derides, it will be fun to watch if the new King of Content can whip his depleted crew into actually providing fresh content across all platforms that broadcasters have been providing….free….since 1997.
Good story, Doug.
The Rapid City Journal (Lee Enterprises), is also a shadow of what it once was.
Sad to see so many good experienced reporters sent down the road looking for other employment.
But, on the bright side, KELO picked up Kevin Wooster! In the end, maybe it will be good for
broadcast media.
A favorite ritual of my husband and me is awaiting the early-morning arrival of our newspaper, then sitting at the kitchen table, drinking coffee and sharing the paper. We probably will not quit doing that, but the revelation of those writers “let go” has saddened–no, enraged–me. Peter Harriman, Janna Farley, and Doreen Weinstein in particular. This is so not fair. And
the arrogance of Patrick Lalley–yes, I watched and listened to that video. The new writers they’ve supposedly hired better
be good to compete with the ones they dismissed.
regarding the 100 eyes…..never watched it until I read your blog….sounds like he is in sales too…selling subscriptions….haha…
Personally, I’ve never found anything worth paying for when it comes to The Argus. I will continue to “settle” for the free news I can read from the Kelo news team. When I do occasionally read the Argus Newspaper on my luncgh hour, I feel like I am always reading the same news I saw on Kelo the day before. So for Patrick to say that all other news outlets are inferior to that of the Argus news team is higly inaccurate. After watching the spewing vomit in that clip, I would gladly pay twice as much for news on the Kelo Website than on the Argus.
I will say that some of the stuff that gets posted on the Argus 911 Facebook news feed is comical. I appreciate the free humor there, but that probably won’t last long now that they know one person enjoys it.
“Content Specialists”? Does that mean they no longer have reporters and subject to the Society of Professional Journalists? And I thought the South Dakota Political Blogosphere was bad enough…. I’ll stick with radio.
I pretty much stopped reading when before I got to the end of the first sentence: “I haven’t written a blog for awhile and after this one..it might just be my last..but here goes.”
I don’t give a rats patooty about the Argus Liar (as it’s known in my part of the state) but I would be truly upset if Doug Lund quit writting his blog. Please tell me that was an idle threat!!
I hope Doug Lund doesn’t stop blogging.i enjoy reading his blogs very much.the argus leader has become a real joke. mr lalleys video was pathetic and made him look like a fool. and him arguing with every one after wards sure was not very professional at all!!!! but he looks like a jerk.Doug has nothing to worry about as he is very respected in the news industry.
I tip my hat to Mr. Lund for being honest and saying what he said. This round of reorganization has spared the amateur hour gang but I’m not sure who is worst, the insufferable bicyclist or Goggles the Effeminate Beanpole. On the plus side the hundred eyes show is good to watch if you have trouble sleeping.
I also agree with those who have mentioned the utter lack of professionalism in this video, and it’s aside from the gussied up storage closet quality set. Lalley I must tip my helmet to, despite the verbal tics he is most professional in appearance (though maybe not in his sentiments or opinions). Ellis and the bucktoothed kid are constantly on their Gannett-funded iPhones or sipping from their water bottles. If KELO ran like that it would be Anchorman 3. You can also tell from Monty’s getups that though the Argus can afford to buy all of its reporters iPhones it can’t bother to get them decent wardrobe assistance.
I also hope Doug keeps writing.
Stu Whitney’s columns always either entertain or amuse me. I always get a kick out of those who beat him up after a column. I enjoy his humor. My guess is when he writes an article, there are more people that buy the AL to read what he said then there is who don’t buy because of what he wrote.
I understand JenniW does not like sports, not everyone does. But in SD, you better keep a good sports department or you will lose the readers you already have. To a lot of people it Sports, Obits, Comics, and maybe Letters to the Editor and the rest of the paper gets skimmed over. Even the Editors of the Watertown Public Opinion figure that out or they would have been done a long time ago.
I also enjoy Jonathan Ellis columns, especially on Sunday. A little dry humor to SD state politics that is lacking in that department. Mr. Ellis was doing a good job on the Benda investigation and then all of sudden it was like the bosses said to back off.
But Mr. Lalley, please no more than one “Bicycle around Sioux Falls” story a month. Just because that is your main hobby, does not mean that it should be the main story on the opinion page every Sunday.
Doug,
Please don’t stop your Blog. I really appreciate the news on your site. I am sure so many do and just don’t tell you.
You are a wonderful Guy and keep up the good work.
If you don’t have time for the long version, just write us what you can.
I lost interest in the Argus years ago. And I think it shameful that Lalley attacked others in an attempt to justify his position on the reorganization. The Argus is a shade of what it once was and not worth even the nine bucks a month. Actually I take issue with all of the local news organizations who can’t seem to find the news right under their noses. I occasionally use old newspapers in research and they are full of local news. How come today’s reporters and editors can’t seem to uncover the stories of local people of interest?
Love this Mr. Lund. Sports coverage, particularly that of Terry Vandrovec, is the ONLY reason I keep giving Gannett money, essentially for their website.
I had a bellyful of the overgrown bicycle boy going back to his anti-establishment navel-gazing alternative newspaper experiment years ago, and take zero news from that bunch. Saddest of all is to see those people running our media now, joke that they were/are. It’s hard to believe, through all the disdain for all of us they showed, why they stuck around anyway. Fear, I guess, of not being able to hack it elsewhere.
As much as I like reading the sports online, I’m very close to pulling the plug and moving on. If Terry got a better offer and moved on, that would be it.
[…] Read that here. And under comments, Lalley responds. Not to say his elitism was misunderstood, but to chide Lund for noting the names of the “downsized” employees. (Because that was supposedly a greater offense than being downsized in the first place?) […]
[…] Well, I guess Doug is a lot more courageous then I for releasing the names; […]
Could it be as the number of stories about bicycles goes up the number of subscribers goes down? It’s amazing how you call yourself a journalist Patrick. Irrelevant.
If you want to read the argus website without paying, turn on “private browsing” on your computer.
I was the managing editor of the Argus from 1993 to 1999, and worked with Joel Brown, Peter Harriman, Jon Walker and Ron Hoffman. They all gave their careers to the Argus Leader, and to be dumped after working there for decades seems cruel. I understand that the industry is changing, but what the nation’s premiere press – The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and others – has shown convincingly is that unique content that matters to readers and which they can’t get anywhere else is the key to maintaining audience and profitability. Online videos by newspapers are added value with tiny audiences. In-depth, investigative, and insightful reporting is the key to newspapers’ long-term success. Getting rid of veterans, especially someone with as much talent and grace as Jon Walker, makes no sense to me, but it does ensure a bad taste not only in all the people in the newsroom but also in the community. I hope that your company can find a place at KELO for Jon as it did for the delightful and talented Kevin Woster. Jon is a gem and would add to the quality of your news report.
Thanks, Scott, but I will continue to “settle” for the news I get for free on KELO’s website.
Scott is right – either turn on the private browsing option on your browser and then close and reopen when you hit the limit, or just clear your cookies and history after you reach the artificial maximum number of articles in the month. Then you are free to read all the Argus you can handle, which sadly these days isn’t all that much.
I like the idea of a local newspaper, but over the past few years I haven’t seen much that would make me want to subscribe to the Argus. Lalley’s bragging about him being a bicyclist or participating in yet another athletic event don’t impress me, and I don’t see why he feels the need to make it an ongoing series. The vital investigative reporting and in-depth coverage is extremely rare these days with more and more space devoted to fluff, opinion, or free advertisements for whatever new franchise is opening this week (which are disguised as ‘articles’ in the Business Journal).
The Argus is trying to adapt to a changing world, but thus far it hasn’t resulted in a better experience for the reader. Their online video content such as “100 eyes” has lower production quality than what high school kids are uploading to YouTube, and they still haven’t found a videographer capable of capturing all of Lalley’s arrogance in the frame.
The Argus is constantly telling us how they are such a great newspaper and every year or so they shuffle people around as they pretend this is for the reader’s benefit. I somehow don’t feel that is the truth, and in the meantime I’ve noticed blogs are doing a much better job of breaking real news stories and in some cases even performing true investigative reporting while the Argus tries to convince us that they are still relevant.
The news cycle is rapidly changing, but the Argus Leader acts as if it just discovered this new thing called the Internet. They are several years behind the curve, and while they continue to give people new titles and drop reporters, it is clear they are losing sight of what they should be doing best. I can get my news via a physical paper, the radio, television, blogs, websites, tweets, facebook updates, text alerts, and apps… but the delivery vehicle doesn’t really matter if the content is garbage. Therefore if they spent as much time focusing upon delivering actual news rather than focusing upon HOW to deliver it, people might find them. As it sits, I have no reason to suspect we won’t see another reorganization at the Argus within the next year or two as they once again realize whatever they are doing isn’t working.
How sad is it that the only paper I have purchased in the past year was to see the advertisements for Black Friday, and even then the papers were delayed due to printing issues at the Argus. In the copy I did get, the text was blurry and the colors were misaligned. The articles failed to change my opinion that it wasn’t worth a subscription (and those worth reading were those from the AP which I can read online for free), and at this point I’m convinced if the Shopping News contained the same weekend flyers the Argus would probably lose half of their subscribers overnight.
I hope the Argus at least spends some of the money saved for presentable clothing for Lalley’s sidekicks.
Their wardrobe choices could be improved at any thrift store establishment in Sioux Falls for very little money.
Now that they have more money, I expect to see improvements, otherwise they should stick to print with no video.
The Argus Leader has always been a joke of a newspaper & makes Mitchell’s Daily Republic or many other small town newspapers look outstanding.
KeloLand, KDLT, KSFY, have always been a better a better news source and I don’t expect that to change.
And I don’t think South Dacola could ever get any more Gross.
I personally will not waste my money on the Argus Leader. I will continue to utilize the Keloland website for local news and information. I grew tired of the Argus when they started putting Patrick Lally in the forefront of the Argus website. His rambling and his opinions expressed in my opinion are not newsworthy. It is rather unfortunate that the Argus Leader has made the decision to have Mr. Lally as their spokesperson. They have really stooped to a low that I never expected to see.
There is a huge story for the news to be published for South Dakota right now and everyone including KELO, KDLT, KSFY, and every other news source has already published something and the Argus continues to bring up and represent the rear.
Firing all those journalists was completely stupid and Lalley will relay the news once he reads it in KELOLAND, like tomorrow or something, maybe later in the week, or whenever they can catch up to the news published by real journalists.
[…] So much for Doug Lund’s post about how much better KELO is at NEWS then the Argus Leader. […]