Creative Loafing Atlanta fires editor

Ken Edelstein said he was fired Monday after 11 years as editor of Creative Loafing Atlanta, signaling additional trouble for the alternative weekly.

“This was an involuntary termination,” Edelstein said. “I feel very comfortable that I did the right thing, and I love my staff.”

Ben Eason, CEO of parent company Creative Loafing Inc., wrote in an e-mail, “This is a personnel matter that we’re working through. Luann Labedz, CL’s Publisher, will no doubt be looking for a new leader for the Loaf to replace Ken.”

Labedz had no additional comment.

Neither side would say why Edelstein was dismissed. The newspaper’s parent, Creative Loafing Inc., is in bankruptcy, and Creative Loafing Atlanta laid off two staffers in August, saying the moves were necessary because of declining advertising revenue and skyrocketing fuel and print costs.

More cuts — in advertising and other departments — were said to be on the way.

“The people who are working there are going through so much right now,” Edelstein said.

John Sugg, who left Creative Loafing last year after a 13-year run, said the problems at the publication went beyond the state of the economy and the newspaper industry.

“The one thing that has remained stable at Creative Loafing Atlanta was Ken Edelstein’s leadership … even though he has gone through so many budget cuts. What’s been very clear is that corporate management has no concern for content,” said Sugg, who is a shareholder and still writes a weekly column. “As much as I disagree with what’s happening at Creative Loafing, it still makes me very sad to see it happen.”

Edelstein spent 10 years at the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer writing about business, politics and the environment. He became the assistant city editor and Atlanta bureau chief.

He joined Creative Loafing Atlanta as a senior writer and rose to managing editor. He was named editor in 2000. Of the newspaper’s 19 Alternative Newsweekly Awards, 18 were under Edelstein’s leadership, according to the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies’ Web site.

“People are deflated,” said Mara Shalhoup, a senior writer who’s worked at the paper for eight years. “It was unexpected.”“

Shalhoup said the editorial staff followed Edelstein out of the office and onto the ramp outside Creative Loafing’s building Monday morning.

“People were crying; it was a very emotional scene,” she said. “He’s the pillar of the newsroom, and when you take that out, it’s devastating.”

Eason said at the time of the bankruptcy filing that it would help the chain reorganize and improve its online business.

The filing may have stemmed partly from a dispute with lenders Atalaya Funding and BIA Digital Partners, according to court documents. The limited liability company and limited partnership lent Creative Loafing Inc. $40 million to pay down $15 million in debt and to buy Washington City Paper and Chicago Reader, which Creative bought in 2007.