Editor cuts herself from the budget

Sandy Rowe (via biz.oregonian.com)

The editor of The Oregonian, which serves the Portland, Ore., area, has done something pretty cool to save the jobs of her fellow employees.

She decided to retire and remove her salary from the budget, which is going to prevent some staffers from being laid off.

Sandy Rowe made this announcement Monday.

In an e-mail to the staff, which was published by Willamette Week Online, Rowe said when layoffs became inevitable she knew she wanted to do anything possible to save content-creating jobs by eliminating the number of editors above the content-producers.

She said she didn’t realize that idea would lead to her decision to retire until she began crunching the numbers over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Peter Bhatia, the current executive editor, will become editor of The Oregonian on January 1.

Rowe said she plans to take most of 2010 off to spend time with her daughters and granddaughter.

While Rowe was at The Oregonian, the paper won five Pulitzers. She has been at the paper since 1993.

Rowe clearly sees the value her paper has, and I think it is noble of her to step down in an effort to preserve the publication. She obviously is dedicated to her hometown product of journalism, and she should be praised for making such a selfless choice.

How many other editors would make such a decision to keep the paper full of great content and save the jobs of their colleagues? I’m guessing not many would.

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About toddvogts 849 Articles
Todd R. Vogts, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of media at Sterling College in Kansas. Previously, he taught yearbook, newspaper, newsmagazine, and online journalism in various Kansas high schools, and he ran a weekly newspaper in rural Kansas. He continues to freelance as a professional journalist from time to time. Also, Vogts is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), the Journalism Education Association (JEA), and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), among others. He earned his Master Journalism Educator (MJE) certification from JEA in 2022. When he’s not teaching or writing, he runs his mobile disk jockey service and takes part in other entrepreneurial ventures. He can be reached at twitter.com/toddvogts or via his website at www.toddvogts.com.

1 Comment

  1. I would (if I were at an age where I could retire). Is 36 too young?
    But good for her. That is noble in a world where most CEOs still seem to take out massive bonuses and benefits, even while they call for layoffs and their stockholders lose money.
    Good job on Bobcatnation by the way. Really like the concept and glad you’re keeping in touch with journalism. Our industry needs people like you.

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