Jerry Lessenberry, who writes a column for the Metro Times, the alternative newspaper in Detroit, has recently been criticizing the Detroit papers for their unimaginative coverage.

As a result, Lessenberry has been hearing back from some former Detroit reporters and editors about what’s wrong with the papers. One of them wrote this item about the Free Press, which is now owned by Gannett after years of being a Knight-Ridder paper, and its business desk:

“They kicked the business editor out the door without a plan, then were turned down by six candidates who decided they couldn’t work here. Finally, they promoted [Paul] Anger’s henchman from Des Moines, who he’d brought here in the spring … the current staff was largely made of strike-breakers from the ’90s, but they were at least motivated. Now they’re on autopilot.”

For the record, the business editor at the Free Press referred to is Randy Essex, who had been the metro editor and the Iowa editor for the Des Moines Register paper.

Read more here.