Although reports of Metro’s imminent demise have been overblown, the Daily Examiner has learned that London-based Metro International VP Robert Patterson will pay a visit to the Philadelphia offices tomorrow for a kind of state-of-the-state meeting with the local higher-ups.

Even though the Boston and New York Metro operations both lost their publishers after a Patterson visit, Philadelphia publisher Eric Mayberry will most likely not get axed, according to sources at the paper. (The organization’s U.S. editor-in-chief, Jon Auerbach, was also let go earlier today, but his departure was a welcome one to some. “Good riddance,” one Metro staffer told us.) UPDATED report after jump.

The Patterson visit comes at the end of a very tumultuous week for the free daily, as Metro International went through some sweeping changes to prep for a possible sale. Right now, there is speculation that the Philadelphia version may be shopped around to a local buyer and would not be included in the rumored potential New York Times purchase of the other two papers. All of this upheaval comes soon after the mostly positive Philadelphia Weekly story, “Pushing Paper,” which gave an insider’s view of the daily’s operations.

After tomorrow, the Philly paper should have a better idea about what the future holds, but nobody is predicting a major slashing of their own editorial staff.

UPDATE: Whoops. There will be blood, indeed. One staffer e-mailed to say that, in fact, two editorial positions will be eliminated. “It’s going to be a shitty night at the office,” the source said. More when available.

Metro cuts hit editorial staff [NY Post]
Pushing Paper [Philadelphia Weekly]
Metro dailies are in trouble [Fishbowl New York]

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 24th, 2008 at 3:21 pm and is filed under Philadelphia Metro, Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Posted by A.J. Daulerio on 1/24/08 in Philadelphia Metro, Media