Saturday, July 21, 2012

Sad news: Former publisher Dave Sharp dies

Dave Sharp's brief battle with pancreatic cancer ended today. Among the leaders at the Journal during the latter years, I always thought Mr. Sharp was a pretty straight shooter. It's sad he didn't have more time to enjoy his retirement.
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14 comments:

Andy Chapelle said...

Not one comment from the Flint crowd? Pity. He was a good guy.

30 July, 2012 19:41
Anonymous said...

Dave came to Flint.. People started losing their jobs.

30 July, 2012 22:04
Anonymous said...

I remember standing in the newsroom when Dave told us flat out "This is the best buyout that will ever be offered at Flint."

Many of us took him at his word. He was right.

I remember being amazed that he said that out loud, and I appreciated it at the time.

01 August, 2012 09:28
Jim of L-Town said...

So do I, Anonymous 9:28, so do I remember that day. Changed my life.

01 August, 2012 09:43
Anonymous said...

Yeah, it was his fault. He made those decisions not somebody higher up the food chain. People lost their jobs the moment he came to Flint, dudn't they????

03 August, 2012 00:53
Anonymous said...

I tend to blame TD as much for the decisions made in '07-'08 as DS. DS was right about the buyout; of course, that doesn't make him a saint.

03 August, 2012 23:26
Anonymous said...

Those decisions were not made by Dave Sharp, but he did have to implement them. He also knew that they were coming and he made many of the decisions about who was let go. Some people (who were not given the opportunity of the 'big buyout') went to Dave when the paper went to three days and those who were left had to go, many with only a few years left before retirement. Some begged to keep their jobs. He explained that there was nothing he could do. Then he handed his son his job.

05 August, 2012 18:56
Andy Chapelle, Ann Arbor said...

I understand why some would blame management.

I respectfully disagree. It's scapegoating.

I don't think any of us saw the digital news revolution roaring down the tracks. Craigslist, SmartPhones and Twitter ate our lunch....and NONE of us saw it coming.

That's my take...And I do feel compassion for all my Booth mates.

06 August, 2012 18:15
Jim of L-Town said...

Andy, thanks for your comments, but I will say this: Some of us questioned why back in the late 1990s we decided to give away the product online.

Many of us, at open meetings hosted by the editor, asked how a business model worked that allowed some to get content for free while others were still expected and needed to pay for the same content.

What we were told at the time was "Trust us, we know what we are doing and we need to be online and the model is free content."

The trust was misplaced and our questions and concerns were valid. Management was not listening.

07 August, 2012 07:17
Anonymous said...

Anyone who thinks Dave Sharp gave his son his job has no clue. That decision was made higher up the food chain by the people who gave Matt Sharp his current job.

08 August, 2012 17:14
Anonymous said...

Yeah, and Diana Lewis had absolutely nothing to do with getting her daughter on at Channel 7 in metro Detroit. She was just that good.

09 August, 2012 08:49
Anonymous said...

You're comparing Glenda Lewis getting a job as a talking head to somebody being named a newspaper publisher? REALLY? Did Glenda hire in as news director? These two things have nothing in common. I'm not saying Matt Sharp was qualified or was not qualified but daddy didn't make that decision.

11 August, 2012 02:43
Jim of L-Town said...

Enough of the back and forth on Dave and Matt, please.

Thanks, Jim

11 August, 2012 07:18
Anonymous said...

Jim:
I have to echo what you said, about the warning signs being there.

I remember very specific discussions about how Advance should pool its classifieds at an online location, to outdo Craig's List. Imagine going to one place online to see every used car for sale in most major Michigan cities?

Maybe that was a pipe dream, but some of us did hear the train, and walked into the engineers' offices to sound the alarm.

We were patted on the head, and told "top, top people" were working on it, and the miracle would come from the East.

They call it mLive.

13 August, 2012 14:35

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