Thursday, September 12, 2013

Who's Out, Who's In at Roanoke's Daily

(Update: The rumor that sportswriter Randy King was part of the layoff is apparently untrue. He has been ill and "is expected to return to work soon," according to somebody who knows. Three designers and team leader Chris Church were fired. One of those designers, Michele Crim, used to work for Tom Field and me at the FRONT.)

 Looks like the local daily in Roanoke is responding to the Internet chatter over the last day (including mine, I suspect) by offering up this excellent piece by veteran reporter Ralph Berrier Jr. on its 11 percent staff reduction (31 jobs), announced briefly yesterday.

News outlets have traditionally been terrible about reporting on themselves, but this report--which is still without the names of the five newsroom people who lost their jobs--is one of the most complete and balanced of this type of story I've ever seen. The story shows respect for readers by reporting straight. If this is where the paper is going in general, it is a good thing. The layoffs are sad and even tragic for reporters, several of whom have been with the paper for a long, long time.

Here's what I've heard from at least two sources each so far: Ray Cox, the paper's best natural writer and a long-time sports writer in the New River Valley, was let go. Two editorial writers, Michael Sluss and Luanne Traud Rife, have been moved to the newsroom, helping to establish a gain of one local reporter overall.

Natalee Waters, head of photo, was let go and the paper's managing editor, Michael Stowe, will assume her duties. Kathy Lu, the features editor, announced she was leaving for Kansas City last week--ahead of the layoffs. David Ress, a veteran reporter and editor who recently moved to Roanoke from Staunton to take Mason Adams job as city reporter (Mason was a crackerjack reporter who left for a job outside the industry in Floyd), is gone. He Tweeted this yesterday: "afraid the 11% of staff the roanoke times laid off included me. a great paper, gonna miss it lots."

Word is that the paper's online presence will be run from somewhere besides Roanoke (I've been told it will be operated in Richmond, but can't get that verified). The future of print publications is online, so this is a crucial decision, taking the operation out of Roanoke--if, indeed, that is true.

Berrier's story says the paper's circulation has fallen to 67,000 on weekdays and 85,000 on Sunday. My guess is that the circulation has not been that low since the 1960s. Employment has dropped from 633 in 1986 to 253. I don't know how many of those are in the newsroom, but my guess would be that the news total is the lowest it's been in 40 years or more.

It's easy to get mad at daily papers for losing jobs. It was especially easy under the previous regime at the local daily here when the management was ... well, you put in the adjective you prefer. Publisher Terry Jamerson is doing what she was directed to do by new ownership (Berkshire Hathaway) and I don't think she's taking any joy in these layoffs and staff maneuvers. Will it result in a better newspaper? We'll see.
the local editor of The News Leader in Staunton since 2010 and is happy to return to reporting a beat.
David was an investigative reporter, business reporter and projects editor for the Richmond Times-Dispatch for many years, and also has reported for The Star Ledger in Newark, the Daily Press in Newport News, The Baltimore Sun and Reuters.
- See more at: http://blogs.roanoke.com/timessquare/2013/01/welcome-to-the-newsroom-david-ress-roanoke-city-hall-reporter/#sthash.ugaOHKw6.dpuf
the local editor of The News Leader in Staunton since 2010 and is happy to return to reporting a beat.
David was an investigative reporter, business reporter and projects editor for the Richmond Times-Dispatch for many years, and also has reported for The Star Ledger in Newark, the Daily Press in Newport News, The Baltimore Sun and Reuters.
- See more at: http://blogs.roanoke.com/timessquare/2013/01/welcome-to-the-newsroom-david-ress-roanoke-city-hall-reporter/#sthash.ugaOHKw6.dpuf
the local editor of The News Leader in Staunton since 2010 and is happy to return to reporting a beat.
David was an investigative reporter, business reporter and projects editor for the Richmond Times-Dispatch for many years, and also has reported for The Star Ledger in Newark, the Daily Press in Newport News, The Baltimore Sun and Reuters.
- See more at: http://blogs.roanoke.com/timessquare/2013/01/welcome-to-the-newsroom-david-ress-roanoke-city-hall-reporter/#sthash.ugaOHKw6.dpuf
the local editor of The News Leader in Staunton since 2010 and is happy to return to reporting a beat.
David was an investigative reporter, business reporter and projects editor for the Richmond Times-Dispatch for many years, and also has reported for The Star Ledger in Newark, the Daily Press in Newport News, The Baltimore Sun and Reuters.
- See more at: http://blogs.roanoke.com/timessquare/2013/01/welcome-to-the-newsroom-david-ress-roanoke-city-hall-reporter/#sthash.ugaOHKw6.dpuf
the local editor of The News Leader in Staunton since 2010 and is happy to return to reporting a beat.
David was an investigative reporter, business reporter and projects editor for the Richmond Times-Dispatch for many years, and also has reported for The Star Ledger in Newark, the Daily Press in Newport News, The Baltimore Sun and Reuters.
- See more at: http://blogs.roanoke.com/timessquare/2013/01/welcome-to-the-newsroom-david-ress-roanoke-city-hall-reporter/#sthash.ugaOHKw6.dpuf

4 comments:

  1. Good coverage by Berrier and by you. Thankful for the nudges that may have helped them be straightforward.
    I suspect it's not about a "better newspaper" but one that is viable for as many years as possible.
    As a former newspaper publisher (now in the private sector) - my heart hurts to see what's happening to the print media - my first love.
    But I am as "guilty" as any in my digital consumption. We get a print daily at our house but I am not the member of the household who reads it. My 79 year old mother loves it dearly and when she travels the print copies are saved for her to catch up on when she returns.
    I pray that the print media lasts at least as long as the last person who treasures it is with us.

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    1. Chris: This is not about "print media." Huffington Post is print media. It's about paper printing, which is near the end of its run (so to speak). Journalism is not newspapers/magazines. They are simply the delivery system. I don't read paper media any more either (even though I was still publishing a magazine six months ago). I read online. That's where we are and where we will be in the future. The most popular classes the past couple of years at the Roanoke Regional Writers Conference have been those dealing with electronic publishing and writing.

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  2. Broadcaster Paul Colley posted this on Facebook in response to this blog post:

    I, too, am grieving for our friends and colleagues whose jobs have "evaporated" at the paper and, in recent years, my field, broadcasting. These industries are struggling to remain relevant in the lives of today's readers/viewers/listeners, and that's no easy task.

    It involves a lot of guesswork and voo-doo prediction in a fast-changing landscape. The founding principle remains: quality content, quality content, quality content.

    Clean, razor-sharp, in-depth journalism on significant stories by (or at least mentored by) seasoned reporters who have known this region most of their lives and who live and breathe their beat must remain as bedrock.

    That, and a good variety of syndicated "thinking people" are what I want presented to me every day.

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  3. The papers reporting has gotten leaner and leaner on local and community news. It has become like the 6PM TV news with a little more detail on the stories. To get more readership, more local and neighborhood news and sports coverage is needed. I have lived in towns and cities around the country and this is a big void here. Most local papers report more on schools events of all types at all three school levels. Who won the local monthly school chess tournament? Who was convicted of what in criminal or traffic court? What are the local neighborhood groups doing? These are the things that make people buy the paper and it's not here.

    ReplyDelete