The publisher of University of Georgia’s independent student-run newspaper has resigned, according to an article posted on The Red & Black’s website.
Harry Montevideo had been in the role for more than thirty years, the rockiest of which may have been 2012. Late last summer, after members of the paper’s board attempted to exert heavier influence over editorial content, student staff members walked out en masse and started a competing online publication,
The students published Red and Dead online until August 20, when they—in conjunction with a revised board of directors and the Montevideo—released a statement announcing the reinstatement of the editors.
Flagpole, an Athens weekly, reported that Montevideo’s resignation was a mutual agreement between him and the board and stemmed from “financial struggles in the online world,” according to board member and spokesman Chuck Reece.
Gabe Ram, the new student editor-in-chief of The Red & Black, said Montevideo’s resignation was not a surprise. Ram, who has not even seen his first issue as editor-in-chief of the paper published, said the staff was focused on moving forward.
Ram said he and the staff trusted that the board of directors would make a good move as far as hiring a replacement publisher is concerned.
The paper’s advertising director, Natalie McClure, was appointed as acting general manager while the board makes this hiring decision.
The Red & Black was founded in 1893. In 2011, the paper switched from printing five issues a week to a weekly schedule and beefed up its website, which, according to its media kit, now averages 1 million monthly pageviews.