The Departed: My reflection on the sudden demise of Connect Savannah

LAST WEDNESDAY, with no advance warning, Connect Savannah published a short, pithy piece on their website announcing that they would cease publishing their print and digital product.

I’ve been told that their freelance contributors found out via the paper’s Facebook page that same day.

Full-time employees who were let go – including new publisher Rufus Friday, who had just been brought on board from Kentucky at the start of this year – were reportedly notified just the day before.

It was a slap in the face to the local community as well as to those employees and writers.

But then again, those who have been paying attention weren’t surprised at all.

As many of you know, the entire reason The Savannahian was formed was due to three former Connect editorial employees – myself, Rachael Flora, and Sean Kelly – resigning from that paper after “a long train of abuses and usurpations,” in the words of the Declaration of Independence.

We declared our own independence and formed this publication, with a few key differences: 1) The Savannahian is a nonprofit; 2) we aren’t dependent on advertising revenue; 3) and we are continuing the long tradition of a true alt-weekly publication in Savannah, GA – a role Connect abdicated almost immediately after we left en masse.

I would be lying if I said I didn’t find some measure of personal vindication in Connect’s demise. The Germans have a word for it.

With Connect’s grossly unethical and unprofessional decision to take my name off of literally hundreds of pieces I wrote for them over 20 years – and only my name, no one else’s – they forfeited any modicum of respect I might have had for them moving forward.

I understand that business is business. Do I ever. But stripping all my bylines after two decades of service to their company was pettiness on a truly absurd scale.

And karma’s a bitch.

To be abundantly clear: I wish no ill will towards the employees and freelancers that were poorly treated by the paper’s ownership and upper management, as I myself have been the victim of the same.

I feel sorry for anyone and everyone subject to similar abuse.

We prefer to see this development as not an emotional but a professional vindication – that we made the right move four years ago in late 2020 by leaving Connect and starting our own publication.

To quote Michael Corleone: “It’s not personal, Sonny. It’s strictly business.”

Speaking for myself, venturing out on my own after nearly 30 years of working for other publishers was liberating to a degree I didn’t expect.

I had more professional freedom, more personal freedom, and my health even improved. My blood pressure went down significantly after I left!

True story. Leaving Connect literally added years to my life.

My only regret is that I should have done it sooner.

But the best thing about this story, the most beautiful thing really, is that you don’t have to know anything at all about our history with Connect or give a shit about it at all.

We are way beyond that already and have been for quite a while.

Our remarkable, and remarkably diverse, group of dedicated contributing writers have nothing to do with all that old history.

They, I believe, were attracted to write for us not because of anything in the past, but because of what we represented for the future – and because of the authenticity with which this publication does it.

Our contributing writers are the heart and soul of The Savannahian and should take precedence over any consideration of past drama. They are what's important now.

In short, we take the fact that we’re still standing after Connect Savannah is gone as validation for all the work that’s been done in the meantime since we left.

It was interesting to see the public's response to Connect's hasty bombshell peace-out.

The main response from folks in the community on learning that Connect was shutting down was lamenting the loss of yet another news outlet.

Even people who didn’t particularly enjoy the “new,” post-2020 Connect and its obvious corporate focus saw that it’s never a good thing when longtime local newspapers abruptly shut down.

To that end, we at The Savannahian are more determined than ever to fulfill the role of Savannah’s true alt-weekly, to keep that tradition alive – albeit in this digital form which is more in tune with the changing technology and marketplace of 2024.

We’re stepping our game up with some new additions and improvements, some of which are cosmetic, and some of which are a good bit more involved than that.

For starters, this week we’re introducing a new free weekly music calendar, The Savannahian Soundboard, to provide a core service that any alt-weekly needs to provide to the community.

Expect our music calendar to keep building and expanding from here. And expect more improvements of this nature as we continue spreading our wings in this city that we love.