Times pulls criticism

Around 7 a.m. on Sept. 13, we found an envelope left anonymously on the front step of the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal.

It contained a copy of a page from the Sept. 10 issue of “Business Ink,” the Sunday business section of the Northwest Arkansas Times. The article we received, however, never appeared in “Business Ink.”

The article was pulled from the publication — obviously — because of its content. The words “pull this” were written in the margin next to it.

Randal Seyler, a part-time writer for the publication and a full-time human resources coordinator for a local manufacturing firm, wrote that the changes taking place at the Times can be stressful for employees.

“Skulking around like a mortician is not the way to instill confidence in the work force,” the article stated, “and letting employees’ imaginations run rampant is far worse than not saying anything at all.

“Remember what made The Blair Witch Project so scary? It was the fact that you never saw the monster, you didn’t know what it was, but you knew it was just outside the tent.”

Such concerns are bound to weigh on employees and prompt them to dust off their resumes and look for new jobs, Seyler quoted a Dallas expert as saying.

Although the alliance between Community Publishers Inc. of Bentonville and the Arkansas Democrat Gazette’s Northwest Arkansas edition was announced Aug. 19, many Times staffers apparently feel they are still in the dark about what’s going on and whether they will be able to keep their jobs. CPI owns the Times and the Benton County Daily Record. Both papers are part of the alliance with the D-G. One D-G executive said there will be no layoffs at the newspapers, but 25 percent of the editorial jobs at the three newspapers could be eliminated over time through attrition. (See story Page 1.)

“The more employees know, the less scared they will be, and the more productive they will continue to be, regardless of change or its outcome,” concluded Seyler.