Barnhart takes buyout

Neither is as useful or needed as they used to be. Just because the AJC will continue to exist - and who's to say how long that will be - it's not as relevant as it once was. You can blame outside market forces for the fate of both, but in this case the AJC certainly didn't help itself by letting quality slip away.

 

Aw, c'mon, Write-brained, you let Drip goad you into explaining a punchline. You're better than that! I think 99.99% of us knew exactly what you meant. Please don't "dumb down."

 

I had no idea what he was talking about and he explained himself. There was nothing wrong with that and I thank him for doing so.

 

The AJC's new lineup suggests to me that its sports coverage will remain "relevant," at least to anybody still looking for excellent reporting and writing on subjects other than pro hockey:

Columnist: Mark Bradley
Columnist: Terry Moore
Columnist: Jeff Schultz
Cover stories: Steve Hummer
General assignment: Tom Stinson
Braves: David O'Brien
Falcons: Steve Wyche
Hawks: Sekou Smith
Pro backup: Carroll Rogers
Destinations (think of page 2 kinds of things): Darryl Maxie
Georgia beat: Tim Tucker
Georgia beat: Chip Towers
Georgia Tech: D. Orlando Ledbetter
Georgia Tech: Larry Hartstein
High schools: Michael Carvell
High schools: Chip Saye
Thrashers: Mike Knobler
(I am told that Furman Bisher's columns will continue to appear, as well.)

We have lost a load of reporting and writing talent over the 6 1/2 years I've worked at The AJC (hm, cause and effect?). Some of that talent now stars elsewhere (Mark Schlabach, Craig Custance, Michael Lee, Carlos Frias, for example). Some left the business (Jack Wilkinson is a notable example). Now, we're about to lose more good people (Stan Awtrey, Tony Barnhart, Scott Bernarde, Curtis Bunn, Matt Winkeljohn, plus high schools writer Derrick Mahone, who will be covering Cobb County courts, plus former sports writers Michelle Hiskey and Karen Rosen, who are leaving the news department, and Wendy Parker, who is leaving our online operation).

It would be ridiculous to try to minimize our losses. it would be just as ridiculous to underestimate the "relevance" of what we will produce in the seasons to come.

 

Is this the only major paper in the country with only one NFL beat writer, or did I miss something?

 

I'd think Falcons is a big part of "pro backup."

 

My bad, I didn't think anybody thought the kind of football the Falcons play was anywhere close to professional...

Still amazing they don't have two full-time football guys, but then again, there is almost no competition...

 

Taking Maxie out of the HS mix is a bold step, since he's been covering state/metro ATL schools for a while.
Is the AJC still going to rely on P/Ters for preps in the surrounding areas? And is there no one to take up the burgeoning golf beat/local colleges in Awtrey's imminent absence?
Losing Bernarde also means the loss of outdoors coverage, no? Between he and Kent Mitchell, that's a lot of years of outdoors beat.

 

Where is Darryl Maxie going? And losing Curtis Bunn won't make the situation any better.

 

I knew about the page two thing with Maxie I was under the impression after reading the post that he was leaving the AJC.