MEDIA MEDIA FRENZY
Is Mathews out at Advance?
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BY ROB HOLBERT/MANAGING EDITOR/RHOLBERT@LAGNIAPPEMOBILE.COM
THE NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD PUZZLE ACTION STARS BY BRUCE HAIGHT / EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ ACROSS 1 Kind of marker 8 Auto-sharing company 14 Solid 20 Attack 21 Harshly bright 22 Earning a Purple Heart, say 23 ____ into a major film star 25 7Up, in old ads, with “the” 26 Vale 27 Salacious look 28 Sibling of Helios and Selene, in myth 30 Something to shoot with, briefly 31 “Phooey!” 34 ____ for just the right film role 39 Many a suit has one, for short 42 New employee 43 “You think I won’t!” 44 Bio word 45 Radius, for one 47 ____ Doggie of old cartoons 48 Psychedelic experience 52 ____ several filmmaking awards 54 Maker of business jets 55 Spellbound 56 Hybrid citrus fruits 57 “The Lion King” villain 59 Stick close to 60 Went after 64 Something that turns up when you snap your fingers? 65 Pay dirt 66 ____ a new film adaptation 69 ____ two film studios against each other 71 ____ nova (musical style of the late Middle Ages) 72 Like businesses on Yelp 73 Land near a wharf 74 Org. with the magazine America’s 1st Freedom 75 Spellbound 76 Leader who was Time’s 2007 Person of the Year 77 Italy’s Isola d’____ 81 “Ha! I was right!” 83 ____ for meatier film roles 87 Brisk tempo 89 Cads 90 Like food 91 “Despicable Me” supervillain 92 Evidence of a brawl 94 Baylor’s home 95 Salon offering 96 ____ the film deal 99 Giggled 101 Honey ____ Clusters
19 Modern greeting 24 ____ noire 29 Student taking Contracts, maybe 32 Villagers the Grinch stole from in Dr. Seuss 33 Surround 34 Hogwarts groundskeeper 35 Native New Yorkers 36 Eco-friendly building certification, for short 37 Runner-up’s amount in an auction 38 New York team 39 Goya subject DOWN 40 Speak for oneself? 1 Lash 41 Some rounds 2 Lady’s man 43 Settled a score old-style 3 Country singer Lovett 46 Got going 4 First African-American Disney 47 Aslant princess 49 Seafood order 5 Spike TV’s former name 50 Temper 6 “____ be my honor” 51 Summoned, in a way 7 Sunbathing locale 53 In bankruptcy 8 Jewelry chain 57 Michael ____, Brett 9 Borodin’s prince Halliday detective 10 1993 accord grp. 58 Things to chew on 11 Surveillance device 61 Aid for a big painting 12 Middle word in a mall map project phrase 62 Naval conflict 13 Cash in 63 Put up 14 “Quiet down!” 64 Straggles 15 Half a score 66 December temp 16 Story ____ 67 Morris who directed “The 17 Immunity enhancer Fog of War” 18 French city near the 68 Like you wouldn’t believe Belgian border 69 Gable part (breakfast cereal) 102 Milne character 103 Java neighbor 104 Church recess 108 Too much, in music 111 ____ himself as a big-screen film star 117 “If you say so” 118 Strive 119 Actions of environmental extremists 120 Stacking game 121 Pines 122 Confronts
70 Singer Marie 73 In line 76 Buzz, so to speak 78 Pride-parade letters 79 Actor Lugosi 80 Yemen seaport 82 Laura of “Blue Velvet” 83 Hindu honorifics 84 “A likely story!” 85 Tie (up) 86 Western tribe 88 1993 accord city 93 “Yippee!” 94 “I’m waiting …?” 96 “Roger that” 97 Vast 98 Betray 99 “The Twilight Zone” episodes, e.g. 100 Poet who wrote, “In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight way was lost” 103 Capital NW of Jungfrau 105 Some info holders 106 ____ lily 107 Depiction in Bosch’s “The Garden of Earthly Delights” 109 ____ se 110 Tire measure: Abbr. 112 Benefit 113 Unwinding spot 114 Word before and after “yes,” in the Army 115 Home-appliance giant 116 Swell
ANSWERS ON PAGE 40
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ormer Advance Media employees and insiders are circulating a long message they say is from former Press-Register and Times-Picayune publisher Ricky Mathews’ Facebook page claiming he has retired from the Newhouse-owned company. Unfortunately this reporter is not a Facebook “friend” of Mathews and therefore was unable to see the message firsthand, but others with access to the page vouched for its authenticity, although all did so under condition of anonymity. They also provided a copy of the message. Mathews’ latest position was as president of Advance Southeast Media, an umbrella organization overseeing all of its newspapers and websites in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. In the message, Mathews says he has made a decision to retire at 59, one year earlier than his personal goal. Mathews says a health scare last year is what got him thinking about slowing down his career. “It was a wake-up call. And as I put myself on a path of recovery, I began planning life changes that would ensure I’d continue to enjoy the blessings of the good health I have now and quality time with friends and family in the next phase of my life. I’m wrapping up the loose ends of that transition now and expect to be retired as of January 1,” Mathews wrote. “Looking back, I’m not sure how I came out of the last 15 years alive. It’s no secret that those years were among the most tumultuous in the last century of newspaper publishing in general and in our region in particular. I took on increasing levels of executive oversight and strategic planning responsibilities at precisely the same time our industry began a battle to reimagine media in a marketplace flooded with new competitors, new technology and new risks.” Mathews has faced rigorous public criticism in both Mobile and New Orleans as he oversaw cutbacks that saw hundreds laid off and left newspapers in both cities shells of their former selves that
publish just three days a week. He was particularly reviled in New Orleans, where the changes were much more abrupt and left subscribers to one of the nation’s best-read and most-admired newspapers wondering what had happened. Still, Mathews has achieved numerous accolades in his career, including a Pulitzer Prize while he was publisher of the Biloxi Sun-Herald during the disaster of Hurricane Katrina. He was part of a statewide board there that helped plan post-hurricane rebuilding, and also served on a similar board in Alabama following the Deepwater Horizon disaster. While Mathews mentioned no immediate plans, he said he would likely be joining some corporate boards where “my talents as a leader and change agent can be put to use.” Mathews did not respond to an email about this matter prior to deadline. WKRG expanding broadcasts Last week marked some changes with WKRGTV’s broadcast schedule, as the CBS affiliate expanded both in the wee hours of the morning and in the evening. On Dec. 5, “News 5 This Morning” began offering a weekday newscast at 4:30 a.m., joining the other stations in the market that have moved to an earlier start. “This Morning” will run from 4:30-7:00 a.m. The other big change takes place in the evenings, when New 5 has started running a 6:30 p.m. show. The new half hour of news gives WKRG the only newscast on at that time. WKRG General Manager Mark Bunting said the new evening broadcast will offer differences such as anchors standing and news that didn’t appear on the earlier broadcast. Bunting also wanted to let viewers know “The Andy Griffith Show,” which was displaced by the 6:30 newscast, can now be seen at 9:30 p.m. on WKRG’s sister station CW 55.