Big Head DC has learned that some staffers at the Washington City Paper, unhappy with recent decisions to lay off employees, have taken to digging for dirt on Ben Eason, the new president of the paper. Eason, who took charge last summer, is rumored to be unpopular with many staffers, especially the editor-in-chief of the paper, Erik Wemple. It is believed that staffers want to tarnish Eason’s image in an attempt to get revenge on his recent decisions to streamline the publication. 

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Jessica Gould, a reporter with the Washington City Paper who gained infamy by stealing food from Whole Foods grocery store sample sections, has been let go from the publication, Big Head DC has learned. Several others were also let go in an effort to reduce costs. Ben Eason, the new president of the paper, talked to us in August about his vision for the paper. Editor Erik Wemple is said to be devastated by the forced cuts.

Earlier: Cab Driver Thought City Paper Staffer Was Offering $5 For a BJ?

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Washington City Paper editor Erik Wemple is just now breathlessly covering the plans for a new Apple store in Georgetown. Several outlets, including Big Head DC, covered this story two months ago. We normally wouldn’t make a fuss (or maybe we would), but Wemple is well-known for picking on other publications for much lesser mistakes. He deserves the scrutiny.

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Erik Wemple, editor of the City Paper, where some of the reporters are paid so little that they are literally forced to steal food, calls plans for a new convention center name ”bullshit.” Really? Is that an acceptable journalistic term for an “esteemed” publication to be using? After all, we’ve heard that Wemple ofteb criticizes his staff for employing such dirty language. Why don’t the same standards apply to the big guy?

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UPDATE: Says Ben Eason: “We’re actually going to host our big Web operations for the company in DC. The production work is what will be done in Atlanta.”

Original post, August 9: When it was announced in late-July that the Washington City Paper had been bought by Creative Loafing, an alternative media publisher, many inside the paper’s newsroom realized that big changes would be afoot.

“We were all worried about our jobs at first,” a staffer there who asked not to be identified told Big Head DC. “I think even Wemple.”

But we now know that Erik Wemple, the longtime City Paper editor who passed up an opportunity to become editor in chief at the Village Voice just last summer, is safe — for the moment at least. However, many members of the newspaper’s advertising and online team will be let go as a result of the sale.

“There will be a slight format change to accommodate our production systems but otherwise, you’ll see not too much on the product side,” Ben Eason, president of Creative Loafing, explained to Big Head DC. “We’re looking to add to our circulation and make the City Paper more available and we’re working on a bunch of new Web initiatives that will be launched over the next 6-12 months.”

Those new operations will largely not be located in Washington — much to the chagrin of staffers who now have to find new jobs. But the change is apparently a necessity in today’s publishing climate.

“I think the biggest challenge facing publishing today is building bridges between the traditional publishing business and the digital information business,” Eason said. “The City Paper has a very smart, active and interested audience that is constantly switching back and forth between the weekly newspaper and the Web site. This audience is incredibly viral and is an early adopter of all kinds of new cool offerings on the web. Our challenge is to maintain the great standards we have for content and journalism and to make sure we’re delivering this content ways that our audience is demanding.”

All of which means the reader shouldn’t see too many visible changes to the newspaper itself. But the inner turmoil, you can bet, is alive and well.

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