A Matter of Newsroom Style

By James Kelly.

St. Patrick's Day began badly for Boston Globe Editor Michael Janeway. Over breakfast that Monday, Jack Driscoll, his deputy, confided that he was leaving the paper. After 15 months in the paper's top post, Janeway, 45, still depended heavily on the 28-year Globe veteran, who was immensely popular among staffers. Then came bleaker tidings. When Janeway reported Driscoll's wishes to Publisher William Taylor, he was utterly unprepared for his boss's reaction. The paper could not afford to lose Driscoll, Taylor replied. Would Janeway consider becoming Driscoll's No. 2 man? The proposal astounded Janeway, who had only just begun to feel comfortable in his job. Two days later, Janeway resigned; 24 hours after that, Jack Driscoll, 51, was running the Globe.

"Mike brought an intelligent and conscientious approach to his job," said Taylor to a crowded city room last week. "His style, however, was markedly different from what the Globe's editorial staff had been accustomed to for many years. It just didn't work."

What had long worked for the Globe's 400 editors and reporters was the style of Thomas Winship, a gregarious charmer who ran the paper like an Irish pol for two decades before stepping down last year. Janeway, by contrast, was introspective, a cerebral, tautly mannered journalist who had worked at the Atlantic for eleven years before joining the Globe in 1978 as editor of its Sunday magazine. Given Winship's long shadow over the newspaper, a sympathetic colleague observed, "I don't think Mike ever had a chance."

Janeway's personal style proved awkward. Meeting with the paper's sports staff shortly after taking over, Janeway said that while he was not a fan in sports-mad Boston, his wife followed the city's teams and she thought the paper's coverage of them superb. The sportswriters were ruffled by the backhanded compliment. Though Janeway assiduously courted colleagues over lunch, he remained somewhat aloof back in his corner office.

When Managing Editor Matthew Storin quit last summer after a squabble with Janeway, the editor grew even more reliant on Driscoll. Janeway tried to ingratiate himself by running minor details of the newspaper's operations past his deputy, but that only made Janeway seem indecisive. Tensions rose over Janeway's strong interest in national and foreign news and the equally strong desire of Driscoll to play up local stories. Though the Globe covered Boston as thoroughly under Janeway as it had under Winship, the perception grew in the newsroom that the paper's editor preferred reading about the French elections to following a councilman's race in east Boston.

Driscoll told Publisher Taylor in January that he wanted to quit, but Taylor implored him to stay. Aware of Driscoll's unhappiness, Janeway created two new deputy managing editor spots to ease his colleague's work load. Driscoll, however, saw the move as an attempt to curtail his responsibility. Two weeks ago, Driscoll repeated to Taylor his plans to leave. The publisher, convinced that Driscoll was more indispensable to the Globe than was Janeway, spent a restless four days deciding what to do. By St. Patrick's Day, Taylor's mind was made up.

Driscoll refused to criticize his predecessor last week, but he stressed that he did not plan to turn the Globe into a national newspaper. Besides mending staff morale, Driscoll must now cope with increasing competition from the tabloid Boston Herald. The circulation of the Rupert Murdoch-owned rival newspaper has climbed from 228,000 to 365,000 since 1982. The Globe's readership (517,000) has not suffered, but the Herald has hiked its share of the city's newspaper advertising pie from 16% to 21%.

As Janeway mulls over his future, one irony has surely occurred to him. When he was offered the top job in 1984, Janeway suggested to Taylor that he instead appoint Driscoll and make him second-in-command. It took 15 months, but Taylor finally realized that Michael Janeway had a point.

With reporting by Robert Ajemian/Boston