CLAREMONT — The Eagle Times newspaper temporarily suspended its print edition earlier this month following the unexpected resignation of three employees in the paper’s newsroom, the Eagle’s owner said last week.
The suspension of the print version of the Claremont-based paper was not for financial reasons, the company’s owner Jay Lucas emphasized.
Instead, Lucas said, it was the resignations on June 6 of General Manager Katlyn Proctor and another person in the graphics department, along with the circulation manager that resulted in being unable to get the paper to the press in Penacook, N.H.
“We were surprised on Friday when Katlyn decided to move on, so we got caught in the moment and were one step behind on that. So there was a hiccup there,” Lucas said. “We also lost another person who does our graphics.”
The print edition of the Eagle recently had been published on Tuesdays, Thursdays and on the weekend, with an online edition six days a week.
The paper — whose origin dates to the 1830s as the National Eagle — is now in limbo. Following Proctor’s resignation, former reporter Bob Martin was named editor-in-chief, Lucas said.
“We are in conversations on building a new team, and we are getting ready to resume printing, likely this coming week,” Lucas said. “We are rearranging and fixing this and moving forward with the paper.”
Lucas declined to comment further on Proctor’s departure or on a notice she posted to “customers” on Friday, June 6.
In the notice, Proctor, who joined the Eagle in August 2023, wrote that “it is with a heavy heart we inform you that the majority of the Eagle Times staff has resigned effective immediately due to ongoing issues with accounts payable and subscription and web site services and our inability to provide top-notch customer service due to the leadership team. Unfortunately, we don’t know what this means for customers during this transition.”
Lucas, who said Proctor did a “phenomenal job” with the Eagle, said he saw Proctor’s message at the same time everyone else did and did not authorize it.
He refuted her characterizations of the company.
“We don’t have issues of the kind reported in the letter,” Lucas said. “We are doing great.”
Lucas also said that 90% of the paper’s 20 or so employees remain, something Proctor and the circulation manager dispute.
Angela Melodia worked part time as the Eagle’s circulation and office manager. She and Proctor said there were just five employees of the paper — three full time and two part time — and three quit on June 6, which leaves just one full-time employee and one part-time employee. The remainder of those who write for paper are independent contractors, Proctor said.
In the three months Melodia was there, three of her seven paychecks (employees are paid biweekly) bounced, though she was eventually paid, she said in a Friday phone interview. The first time, she had to “scramble” to cover the deficit in her account and avoid a penalty.
“The percentage of times not knowing whether I could cash my check wasn’t good,” Melodia said, citing one of the reasons she left the paper.
Melodia also said when she was hired, phone service was not working, but was reinstated. In another instance, she said internet service was lost for a week and other times customers could not access the paper’s online edition.
As circulation manager, Melodia said she knew the post office, which delivers the print edition, was not getting paid so there were times when subscribers did not get their paper.
“It was definitely the paychecks and the post office and other issues,” Melodia, 46, said about why she left. “It just makes everyone’s job hard when you are constantly putting out fire and not being able to concentrate on other things.”
In an email on Monday, Lucas did not address Melodia’s specific claims. He acknowledged that the business side of the paper was not being handled properly and emphasized that as the owner of the paper through Sunshine Communications, he was not involved in its day-to-day operation.
“What I can tell you is that while the team who has just been replaced did a good job of producing a quality paper, there was not the same focus on their part on the business side of the operation, especially resulting in a vast amount of uncollected accounts receivable, which put a strain on the business,” Lucas wrote.
Now, he said, he has “stepped in” to put a new team in place “to take the paper to the next level, both to continue the high quality content and to focus on the efficiency of the business operations.”
Lucas said he bought the paper almost three years ago to avoid it being shut down by the owners at the time, and also because he believes strongly in local journalism and wanted to reestablish that focus as the paper’s strength.
“I think the Eagle had lost its way with too much national and international news,” Lucas said last week. “It was missing the hyper-local news. That is what we have been doing and I think it is growing and we’ve been doing nicely.”
Before Lucas bought the Eagle it was owned by The Sample News Group of Pennsylvania. Sample restarted the paper in 2009 after the owner at the time, Charlestown resident Harvey Hill closed it for financial reasons. Hill bought the paper in the mid-1990s.
In a letter to readers on Thursday, Lucas did not mention the recent absence of a print edition. Instead, he introduced Martin, who has been the paper’s main reporter for about a year, calling him a “highly experienced journalist” who will “take the paper to the next level.”
Lucas also told readers of “additional capabilities” and upcoming announcements to improve the paper’s quality. Recently, the Eagle launched The Phoenix, a local guide to area events, which followed a supplement, Buy Local, highlighting the products of about 70 local farms.
“Inevitably, there will be some bumps along the road, as with all innovation and progress,” Lucas said in the letter to readers. “So, we ask that you bear with us and forgive any small hiccups that may occur along the way.”
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
