Shepherd Express Metro Publisher Lou Fortis likens newspaper editors to babysitters, a comparison certain to make most editors bristle. “Until a level of trust is established,” Fortis says, he keeps a close eye on his newspaper before leaving it alone in the care of an editor.
So it came as no surprise that Bruce Murphy quit in November as Shepherd Express Metro editor after only six months on the job. Murphy was the fifth Shepherd editor in four years. Bluntly put, the Shepherd has become an editor killer, and the stage is set for future editors to fall.
Two editors have perished on his watch in two years, so Fortis has only perpetuated what was already a hazardous outpost for editors.
In 1996, a civil war among Shepherd staffers forced out Editor Scott Kerr. His successor, Jeff Perso, quit in disgrace that same year after trying to expose Sen. Herb Kohl as a homosexual. Interim Editor Doug Hissom then lost his bid to become editor in chief when a Shepherd board member betrayed him in a controversial final vote. Maverick columnist Joel McNally won that election and survived a whopping two years as editor, only to have Fortis dump him after orchestrating the 1999 merger behind his back. Next, please.
An award-winning former editor and reporter at Madison’s weekly Isthmus, Milwaukee Magazine and Metro, Murphy reluctantly went to work for a publisher with no professional journalism background and a reputation for meddling. It was a doomed marriage of convenience, linking an editor who insists on independence and a publisher who insists on being editor.
Fortis first pursued Murphy to be editor of the Shepherd Express back in the fall of 1998, shortly before McNally’s contract expired. After two lunch meetings, Murphy sent word he would not leave Metro, his upstart news weekly.
Metro, previously called The Paper and City Edition, was fast becoming a frisky competitor to the Shepherd. Insiders say Fortis soon initiated merger talks as much to squash the competition as to create a bigger, healthier newspaper.
Evidence indicates Metro publisher Mike Drescher and Fortis both wanted Murphy to be editor of the merged paper, but contract talks became bogged down over the issue of editorial control. Coming to the Shepherd in 1997 as a financial advisor, Fortis invested heavily, became publisher and soon assumed the title of editorial director, giving him ultimate editorial power. In light of this, Murphy would only agree to be editor of Shepherd Express Metro on a trial basis.
“My understanding is I’m going to be the principle person providing editorial vision while working closely with the publisher and staff,” Murphy said at the time of the merger. Fortis kept the title of editorial director, but he consented not to post it in the newspaper.
Everybody agrees Murphy worked hard. Known as a tenacious, hands-on editor, he gave Shepherd Express Metro a reader-friendly design and raised the level of writing by working closely with reporters and aggressively editing their stories. Murphy also tried to drag this hybrid Shepherd kicking and screaming into the mainstream, expanding its reach by focusing more on colorful local personalities and lifestyle features. On top of that, he crammed more news into the front section of the paper than the Shepherd or Metro ever had.
“I’m really going to miss him,” says Managing Editor Julie Wichman. “He’s a great guy and a really good editor.”
Murphy, however, also stepped on a few toes. His drive to improve writing insulted some veteran reporters, especially when he circulated a five-page how-to guide on feature writing, authored by himself. Meanwhile, his assertive editing style had some insiders whispering “control freak.” Says Arts & Entertainment Editor Dave Luhrssen: “He was definitely not a delegator. It’s not the way I like to do things.” Most galling to some staffers and many readers was Murphy’s attempt to balance the Shepherd’s customary Progressive party politics with lighter lifestyle fare. Hissom, now metro editor, says, “I like issue stories better. People thought everything got too soft.”
One reader had this to say: “There seems to be something pathetically schizophrenic about a paper that has both ‘Activist’ event listings and an article about kitchen remodeling.”
Some backlash is expected from loyalists who miss their old newspaper, but Fortis says he grew weary of hate mail and hostile phone calls, not to mention dealing with employees who went to him rather than Murphy with gripes. Instead of supporting Murphy, Fortis began butting heads with him on everything from public relations to major editorial decisions, according to Shepherd sources. Not coincidentally, this describes McNally’s final months as Fortis’ editor, as well.
Asked if he supports his editors, Fortis says, “In most circumstances, yes – the vast, vast, vast majority of cases, 99.9 percent of the time.”
In the end, though, Murphy made no secret of his desire to leave and Fortis went out of his way to show him the door. When Murphy went on vacation for a week in October, Fortis changed the name of the “Scoop” section to “News” without consulting Murphy, who had passionately resisted any such change.
Murphy confirms he sent Fortis a lengthy memo early in his tenure expressing concerns about his lack of editorial autonomy. For his part, Fortis says of Murphy, “He entered into this understanding he did not have total editorial control.” To that, Murphy says, “That’s not my recollection. It became clear we both had a different understanding of what our agreement was.”
Catherine Nelson, an alternative press consultant who helped to mediate that agreement, says Murphy seemed to accept that Fortis still had ultimate editorial authority. “I thought it was pretty clear Louis would have an integral role in editorial” says Nelson who continues to work for Fortis.
“I understood Fortis would be at the table overseeing what I did,” Murphy says. “But I specifically made it a condition of my hiring that he could not be editor in chief.”
Seeming to contradict himself, Fortis now says he never pursued Murphy in the first place, implying that Murphy was imposed on him by Drescher, the publisher of Metro. After Murphy quit, Fortis said this: “Part of the merger agreement was that Bruce would be editor.” Yet, when Murphy was first hired, Fortis said this: “It’s certainly not in the formal contract agreement.”
A former politician and financial expert by trade, Fortis says he’s not the only publisher to get involved in editorial affairs. “It’s not uncommon in the alternative press for a person to be both editor and publisher,” he says. Nevertheless, Fortis says he will do a national search for a new babysitter – oops, editor. Perhaps Fortis should do the job himself if he’s editorial director, a title he equates with editor in chief. Otherwise, few editors will be happy working for a publisher who fancies himself an über-editor.
Just ask McNally, current Shepherd Express Metro columnist and one-time editor under Fortis: “I don’t think that’s going to be successful with any professional editor, because no editor wants to be a flunky just because Louis wants him to be a flunky.”
