The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s executive editor, Griffin Smith, announced his resignation Monday without even alerting his wife, travel editor Libby Smith, of his decision. His final workday is Tuesday.
"It’s in the nature of my job that there are secrets and confidences that can’t be shared even with your spouse," Smith said in an interview with ArkansasBusiness.com. "I don’t think she thought I was going to resign this year."
Smith, 70, would have worked as executive editor for exactly 20 years had he waited until June 23 to leave his job.
Prior to working full time for the Democrat-Gazette, Smith worked as an attorney in private practice. He freelanced for the predecessor Arkansas Democrat and for National Geographic, mostly in the 1980s, and had gained magazine writing experience at Texas Monthly in the 1970s.
Managing Editor David Bailey will take on leadership of the Democrat-Gazette newsroom, Smith said, but the executive editor position will not be filled.
"I resigned rather than retire in hopes that life would send me something interesting. I’m not a golfer and I don’t think I can write the great American novel, so I’m not sure what I’m going to do in the working time ahead," Smith said.
Bailey said he will be assuming more responsibilities, but Smith’s duties will be divided among editors. He worked with Smith for 19 years.
"The most important thing is I won’t be able to walk in Griffin’s office when I need a reality check," Bailey said. "He’s the best editor I’ve ever worked for, and I worked for quite a few. He’s intellectually brilliant. He’s both creative and very analytical."
Due to the secrecy shrouding his resignation, Smith has not yet looked for other work. He said he had, however, talked in early April with Democrat-Gazette Publisher Walter Hussman Jr. about resigning.
"There’s often a misconception about resignations. If you’re resigning, you must be protesting something," Smith said. "I harbor no grievances. … I’m filled with gratitude."
Smith’s responsibilities included newsroom administration and management. He also chose to participate in editing some stories.
Smith said he has a variety of reasons for leaving but chose not to elaborate on any of them.
"It just seemed like it was time to go. It’s a response to many cumulative, individual reasons," he said. "It’s just one of those epiphanies you have, and when you have it, you understand it. Life moves on."
Smith broke the news to his wife during a staff meeting at which he announced his departure.
"She’s learning about this for the first time right now. I love you dearly and I hope you’re looking forward to becoming the chief bread winner in the Smith family. Life is full of surprises," Smith said, according to an article by Democrat-Gazette online reporter Gavin Lesnick.
Also at Monday’s meeting, Hussman announced the end of furloughs for the daily newspaper’s news department.
Members of the news staff took a mandatory unpaid day off every four weeks starting in spring 2008, in response to what the newspaper’s leadership thought then would be an 11-month recession, Bailey said.
"We did the furloughs really to minimize the number of people we’d need to lay off," he said. "We’ve been working to eliminate furloughs for quite some time."
Smith said he was the best paid member of the news staff, and his resignation freed up some money. However, his eliminated salary was just part of the funding for the 5 percent increase in pay for employees, who now must work an additional day every four weeks.
"It left some money sloshing around that would help defray the costs of the furloughs," Smith said. "I’m thrilled, elated, fully understand why Walter got a spontaneous round of applause when he shared that good news."