Disclaimers and caveats first. I’m a supporter of VTDigger. It’s an essential piece of our diminishing news ecosystem. I shudder to think where we’d be without it.

Also, I have no inside knowledge. This post, as with my other writing about Digger, is based entirely on what I can see from out here.

And what I can see is disturbing, sorry to say.

The latest shoe to drop is the sudden departure of editor-in-chief Geeta Anand. She moved across the country to take the Digger job last spring, and now she’s moving back after less than a year. It follows on the heels of CEO Sky Barsch’s pending departure, announced in late January.

I don’t know why Anand is leaving so soon, and I’m not going to speculate. But her interim replacement, veteran editor and journalist Susan Allen, will be Digger’s fourth editor-in-chief in 16 months, including two interims. (Credit to Guy Page at the Vermont Daily Chronicle for being the only reporter to point that out.)

That’s… well, that’s just bad, for a newsroom that seems adrift from its original focus.

What’s more, Digger doesn’t plan to even begin the search for a new EIC until… “early 2027,” almost a year from now. I guess that makes sense because they need to fill the CEO position first, and Allen is a solid choice for the interim role. But it’s hard to see Digger making significant adjustments until it’s onboarded a new chief editor, and significant adjustments are needed. As I wrote in January:

[Digger’s] stated mission is to shine a light on state government. Now it has reporters in several different parts of Vermont and frequently republishes stories from local outlets. There’s less attention (especially of the investigative variety) on government than in the days when [founder Anne] Galloway was single-handedly breaking the EB-5 story.

Since Galloway’s departure, Digger has struggled for stability at the top. Barsch lasted less than three years as CEO, and the EIC position has been a revolving door. Leadership has not been able to solve the evident workplace issues that led to chronically high turnover and newsroom unionization. Reporters continue to come and go at a rapid pace, and Digger’s relationship with the union has been less than healthy.

Speaking of which, it’s been suggested that the top-rank turnover at Digger can be linked to the union’s public beef with management over the use of AI in the newsroom — that the union overstepped by going public and pointing the finger at Barsch and Anand.

I don’t buy it.

In truth, the union acted with considerable restraint. Contract talks had been going on for more than a year; after that long, it’s not unreasonable to conclude that sharper tactics was called for. I’m sure the union wasn’t itching for a public fight with Digger; they know the organization’s finances aren’t in great shape, and they wouldn’t want to do anything to jeopardize its future — and their job security.

I see the AI dispute as a symptom, not a cause. Clearly, Digger has yet to establish a constructive relationship with the union. Some of that might be the union’s fault; none of us really know. But when you put together these facts, it’s hard to conclude that Digger is blameless:

• Initial contract talks dragged on for the better part of a year.
• The improved pay and working conditions didn’t solve the problem of high staff turnover.
• Negotiations for a new deal dragged on so long that the union went public with its concerns.

The labor/management atmosphere was not in a healthy space. That was true before the union went public. The problems existed beforehand; the union was pulling back the curtain and revealing a troubled relationship that already existed.

The board of Digger’s parent nonprofit, the Vermont Journalism Trust, has some real heavy lifting to do. They will have to fill the two most important positions in the organization. They have to choose an editorial direction. They have to boost revenue. They have to take a long, hard look at Digger’s internal culture and think seriously about how to make it better. Given the paucity of journalism jobs nowadays, Digger ought to be a safe haven instead of a leaky lifeboat.

And given its outsized role in our news space, we all have a rooting interest in Digger’s future.