Pat Yack resigns in Jacksonville
Pat Yack, my predecessor in this job who left to be editor of the Jacksonville Times-Union, resigned from that job today. (Via Romenesko.)
I haven't talked with Pat yet so I don't know anything more than this story, but its looks bad. I hope I'm wrong.
Pat was here for nearly five years and had an impact on many of us. He helped me get this job, and I consider him a friend. I'm not worried about him, though. He's a smart, inventive leader who will succeed in whatever he does next.
Comments (4)
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yack also was far from a visionary on the web front, although he "talked the talk" (what subject didn't he do that with come to think of it)
10 -- yes TEN -- years ago these videos were done during his tenure, but he did nothing to spur more innovation in this area (he rejected any more spending on video equipment or editing software)
if this was done 10 years ago, why have things not improved much?
(note: the video size is small because back then broadband was rare. but concentrate on the content and shots in the video -- and wonder why yack didn't push this more...)
I'll give you a hint: the people on the web were NOT his favorites...
Downtown Stoneville Tornado destruction
Interview with a guy whose house was destroyed
A flyover video of the town's damage (a bit jerky, but it was from a plane not a helicopter)
Any editor 10 years ago who could not see the potential here with these very decent attempts (I have no idea who did them, but they were turned around in a few hours and put on the web) is not who I would classify as smart, sharp or innovative.
(by the way, I have no idea what these weird URLs are, but they showed up in a Google search of the Stoneville tornado...)
Posted on January 26, 2008 1:59 AM
I don't have the above commenter's insight into the inner workings of who in the company decides how much gets spent on what in the past "10 -- yes, TEN" years, but I do know that Pat Yack hasn't worked at the News & Record for almost "10 -- yes, TEN" years.
He left for Florida a few months after the early videos cited were produced. I remember this vividly, because the day after the tornado, I was in a car wreck on the way home from Stoneville to file a column. I happened to be about 7 months' pregnant, and recall that no less than the editor of the paper, Pat Yack, called me at home to make sure I was OK.
A lot of us thought Pat was a good newsman and a good boss. Whatever your point is, how do you blame somebody for what happened in the 10 years after he worked here?
Posted on January 26, 2008 1:51 PM
I suppose he's talking about me and my blindness to the possibilities of the Web, Lorraine.
I'm not sure where he's getting any of that baloney about Pat rejecting spending or innovation on the Web. That's not what I witnessed, and I worked with him. I've never heard of Peter, except through the angry comments he leaves on this blog and others.
Posted on January 26, 2008 4:01 PM
Pat certainly had an interest in Web innovation -- in fact, I remember complaining at the time that he was so interested in the bells and whistles that he lacked the patience for the infrastructure we needed to build. Even then, people complained that we weren't Nando. (We didn't have Frank Daniels' millions to toss around and accumulate debt before selling to McClatchy.)
I think he had the right idea, though, and the Jacksonville paper has a pretty good site.
Posted on January 27, 2008 10:47 AM