Call it the Peter Principle 2.0.
Instead of just promoting someone to the level of his incompetence, McClatchy Newspapers has actually promoted failed Miami Herald executive editor, Anders Gyllenhaal, beyond the level of his incompetence. Is your humble correspondent being a bit too harsh in his assessment of Anders Gyllenhaal's capabilities? Allow me to enter into the record the judgement in September of the people who actually worked for him at the Herald:
Last week, several Miami Herald editors and reporters wrote a letter to the paper's management asking it to stop focusing on delivering quick news and return to its roots in well-reported investigative journalism. We're not sure if this is the answer. But we are sure of one thing: the quality of the paper has suffered a lot under the leadership of executive editor Anders Gyllenhaal. Perhaps he understands the Internet and its role in new journalism, but he is clearly having a hard time putting a plan into action.
Indeed the letter circulated internally and signed by most of the paper's top news personnel is a clear sign of dysfunction. Why would such a group of bright people -- including a half dozen Pulitzer Prizer winners -- resort to assembling such a diatribe if the paper were working.
...Gyllenhaal worked in Miami back in the '80s, but he spent years away before returning several years ago. He doesn't get the pulse of this city. Moreover, he's aloof and not well liked in the newsroom. He is the wrong guy to run the paper at this time. So listen up McClatchy: It's time to dump Anders.
On the heels of this discontent with Gyllenhaal comes the news that the Miami Herald plunged 7 percent in daily circulation and 10 percent in Sunday circulation for the six month period ending in September. So was Gyllenhaal summarily terminated from working for McClatchy? Nope. In the McClatchy world such incompetence seems to be actually rewarded:
Anders Gyllenhaal has been executive editor of the Miami Herald since 2007 and shepherded the once-great paper through some of its darker times. Though the economy certainly played a heavy role, it's difficult to pinpoint what part of his performance made him deserving of a promotion. Yet the paper's parent company, McClatchy, has named Gyllenhaal the new vice president of news and Washington editor.
And since I know the question that is lingering in your minds, allow me to answer it now. Anders Gyllenhaal is the uncle of actors Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal. It seems their poorest performances couldn't possibly be any worse than the performance that Uncle Anders delivered as the executive editor at the Miami Herald before being given his Peter Principle 2.0 promotion by McClatchy.
