"He was humiliated beyond belief," Zeigler says. "I think he literally lost the will to live because he lost the thing that meant the most to him, and that was the Times-Union."

Giles says that in the cases of Hand and Dougherty, he acted because he felt he could improve the papers under his charge.

"An editor has to have the authority to make changes in the newspaper that he believes will bring improvement to the paper," Giles says. "The details and circumstances were in those cases...the basic motivation. [In each case,] the decision was made because I believed a change would improve the paper."

He adds that in transferring Dougherty, he opened up the opportunity for a woman to become managing editor at the Times-Union.

"John went from the smaller to the larger circulation paper," Giles says. "In doing so we opened up an opportunity for the first woman to become managing editor in Rochester."

Some at the papers say that Giles's decisions on personnel matters are typical of choices made in a competitive business.

"People in management aren't nice," says Mitchell, the ex-Sun-Times reporter. "They're not there to hold your hand. They're there to put out a paper and make some money doing it."

And even critics of the demotions say that maneuvering of this type is common in the newspaper business.