Lucy Talley, the first woman to serve as publisher of The Florida Times-Union, said Thursday she will leave the company by April 13 for a position with Hearst Newspapers.
Talley, 55, was appointed associate publisher of the Times-Union in November 2008 and publisher in March 2009, succeeding Carl Cannon.
“It’s the toughest decision I have ever had to make,” Talley said Thursday.
“It is so hard to leave the employees here and it’s tough to leave the community. With open arms, people welcomed me in the building and outside the building. It’s a little emotional,” she said.
Talley said her last day with the company will be April 13 unless parent company Morris Communications Co. chooses a successor by then. She intends to start her new position in Midland, Mich., by the third week of April.
Hearst Corp. announced Thursday that Talley was appointed to group publisher, community newspapers at Hearst Newspapers and that she begins her role April 16.
“We are delighted to have Lucy joining Hearst. She’s been an advertising sales leader for 20 years and has excellent hands-on experience in both print and digital,” said a joint statement by Frank Bennack Jr., CEO of Hearst Corp., and Mark Aldam, president of Hearst Newspapers.
Hearst’s community newspapers comprise seven newspapers: the Beaumont (Texas) Enterprise, Edwardsville (Ill.) Intelligencer, Huron (Mich.) Daily Tribune, Laredo (Texas) Morning Times, Midland (Mich.) Daily News, Midland (Texas) Reporter-Telegram and Plainview (Texas) Daily Herald.
Talley said it was a newly created position. She said her role is to transform the company “from being just a newspaper company to being a multimedia company.”
“Community newspapers sometimes don’t get the attention that big newspapers get, so I think there is a real dedication from Hearst to make sure that their newspapers are very, very strong financially and that they continue with this transformation into the digital world,” she said.
Mayor Alvin Brown said the City will miss Talley’s support.
“It’s going to be a tough loss for the City of Jacksonville. She was not only great in her role. She participated in civic engagement,” he said.
“She was fair, she was accessible,” said Brown,
Brown said he hopes her successor is the same. “Someone committed to Jacksonville, someone committed to really volunteer and have an upbeat and positive attitude,” he said.
Jerry Mallot, president of the JAXUSA Partnership of the JAX Chamber, referred to Talley’s involvement.
“Lucy has been an engaged leader in our community and will be missed. At the chamber, we appreciated her input, guidance and full participation with our board and beyond,” he said.
Financial News & Daily Record Publisher Jim Bailey complimented Talley’s achievements.
“Lucy woke up one morning during the peak of the economic downturn, in an industry that was struggling, in a city where she only knew her building address. Four years later, she is recruited to run a division of eight newspapers of the media giant Hearst. To me, that says it all,” Bailey said.
“Our company has enjoyed a wonderful relationship with the leaders and staff of The Florida Times-Union for 100 years and we expect whoever the Morris family hires will quickly become an asset for this entire community,” he said.
“I wish only the best for Lucy and the Times-Union,” Bailey said.
Talley has served in leadership roles at the JAX Chamber and other organizations and was in line to serve as the 2013 chair of the United Way of Northeast Florida’s fundraising campaign.
Newspapers have been changing their methods of delivering news because consumers are using more channels of access, including online and social media. That also has affected advertising revenues.
According to the most recent quarterly report by Morris Publishing filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, advertising revenue in Jacksonville was down $4.3 million, or 12.7 percent, in the first nine months of 2011.
Talley said circulation at the Times-Union has stabilized. She said daily circulation is about 98,500 and Sunday circulation is 159,000. At the peak, she said daily circulation was close to the current Sunday circulation and that the Sunday circulation was about 250,000.
Employment at the Times-Union has dropped in tandem.
Talley said the company has about 360 employees, down from more than 1,000 at the peak.
At the same time, page views on the Times-Union website, Jacksonville.com, were up 21 percent in January to more than 13.2 million, she said.
“As people transition to getting their news and information in a digital format, we have to provide that. We will be anywhere, everywhere people want us to be,” she said.
Talley said she informed her boss, Derek May, Morris executive vice president of newspapers, about her decision Wednesday night. Morris is based in Augusta, Ga.
She said the Morris leadership was gracious about her decision.
“I didn’t see it coming either,” she said. Talley said she has known leadership in the Hearst organization and the new role “just came about through the normal business relationships that you have with people.”
She said the move developed quickly.
“A month and a half ago, I would have never dreamed of this. These things happen pretty fast when they happen, but I was very thoughtful about it,” she said.
Talley said she did not know if Morris would tap someone inside or outside the company to replace her.
“We really haven’t had a chance to talk about that. I know they have a strong feeling about bringing someone in that can provide some good, solid leadership and someone who is approachable and is a good corporate citizen as well,” she said.
“They will make the right decision on that,” she said.
In January, Talley was named a Daily Record “Newsmaker” for 2012 for her position to influence significant events this year. Newsmakers were chosen because they were in a specific place of particular relevance to the direction of the city and that their comments and insights will signal directions in business, politics, education and the future of Northeast Florida.
As publisher, Talley guides Jacksonville’s general circulation daily newspaper and drives its editorial policy.
She also found herself having to respond to community and employee questions about the health of the newspaper in the wake of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy by Morris Publishing and its agreement to pay back debt.
In February 2010, a federal judge cleared the way for Morris Publishing Group to emerge from bankruptcy protection less than a month after it filed under Chapter 11.
Morris Publishing currently owns and operates 12 daily newspapers and associated websites and other digital assets, non-daily newspapers, city magazines and free community publications in the Southeast, Midwest, Southwest and Alaska, according to its website.
The company has a concentrated presence in the Southeast, with four major holdings: The Times-Union, The Augusta Chronicle, the Savannah Morning News and the Athens Banner-Herald in Georgia.
Among other newspapers, it also owns the St. Augustine Record.
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