A Peek Behind the Curtain

The Commercial Appeal reports on itself in this short column about a $13 million discrimination lawsuit filed against it by two employees.

Downing, 56, a reporter with 35 years of experience at The Commercial Appeal, and Wolfe, 51, design manager of special publications, specifically allege they were demoted or transferred as part of a pattern of discrimination against employees over 40 years of age, many of them women.

"The defendant for years has sought to discourage female, minority and older employees and replace them with younger staff," Downing's lawsuit says.

Each alleges that as they were transferred or demoted, less qualified and younger employees filled positions they had or wanted.

If you want to reduce production costs at an expensive company, one of the first things you do is reduce payroll. Getting cheaper employees, usually by bringing in new ones to replace well-paid older employees, is one way to go.

This would be one explanation for why so many familiar names have disappeared from the Commercial Appeal's pages since Chris Peck took over, but not for why so many new names hail from his old Pacific Northwest stomping grounds.

It's interesting that the story, or at least the online version, has no byline.