Tag Archives: Job changes
LA Biz Journal hires two new reporters
by Chris Roush
The Los Angeles Business Journal has hired two new reporters for its staff, according to an email from managing editor Jonathan Diamond.
Kay Chinn, a recent graduate of master’s program at USC’s Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism, will be covering trade and manufacturing.
Subrina Hudson, also a recent Annenberg master’s graduate, will be covering the local advertising and public relations industries.
Hudson fills a long-vacant spot, and Chinn replaces Ryan Faughnder, who held the same beat.
The Los Angeles Business Journal has an editorial staff of 12 people. It is part of a company that also owns the San Diego Business Journal, the Orange County Business Journal and the San Fernando Valley Business Journal.
Florida biz journal hires managing editor
by Chris Roush
Timothy Gibbons, business editor at the Times-Union, is leaving to become managing editor at the Jacksonville Business Journal.
Kate Howard Perry of the Times-Union writes, “Gibbons has been with the Times-Union for 11 years. He will start at the business publication in mid-July.
“‘I look forward to using the skills and experience I’ve developed over more than a decade at the Times-Union at the Business Journal,’ Gibbons said. ‘The Business Journal has ambitious plans, and it will be exciting to be a part of that future.’
“The Jacksonville Business Journal is a weekly print newspaper and daily website, one of 40 owned by American City Business Journals.
“Frank Denton, editor of the Times-Union, said Gibbons is a ‘talented and principled’ journalist who will be missed by the news organization.
“‘We wish him well,’ Denton said.”
Read more here.
WSJ tech reporter is leaving
by Chris Roush
Jessica Lessin, a San Francisco-based senior technology reporter at the Wall Street Journal of several years, is quitting (somewhat abruptly) to launch her own tech website, reports Sam Biddle at Valleywag.
Biddle writes, “It’s unclear how she’ll be funding her new operation — I hear she’ll be taking venture funding — or exactly what the circumstances of her exit are. I was told by a staffer within News Corp. that the announcement of Lessin’s move brought one colleague to ‘tears,’ and that she might’ve been prompted by some internal conflict at the Journal vis-a-vis promotions.
“On the other hand, her marriage to Facebook product wiz Sam Lessin was problematic—you know, ethically.”
Read more here. Since joining the paper in 2005, Lessin has broken some of the technology and media industries’ biggest stories as The Journal’s beat reporter for Google Inc., Facebook Inc. and other leading companies. Currently, she covers Apple Inc. and writes and edits a weekly technology column called “The Valley.”
WSJ names Asia editor for social media
by Chris Roush
Paul Beckett, the Asia editor for The Wall Street Journal, sent out the following staff announcement on Tuesday:
We’re pleased to announce Maya Pope-Chappell has been named Asia editor for social media and analytics with immediate effect.
Maya’s appointment is an important step toward making WSJ’s social media strategy global. She will work closely with social media editors in the U.S. and editors in Asia to build and cultivate audiences across our English-language and local-language sites. She’ll also provide audience analysis and guide regional page managers in their efforts to position and promote news articles and graphics in ways that more deeply engage our online readers. She’ll remain in Hong Kong and continue to report to Asia Desk Chief Emily Veach, with dotted lines to Liz Heron, editor of emerging media for the WSJ and Dow Jones, and Asia Digital Editor Adam Najberg.
Maya joined Dow Jones in 2010 as an assistant web producer for WSJ.com’s Greater New York section. She moved to Hong Kong as an online editor in April 2012, where she managed our regional online editions and took on the added role of expanding our Asia House of the Day offerings. Under Maya’s guidance and through her smart selections, the Asia HOD slideshows have become wildly successful and are regularly one of the most-viewed features on both our English-language and local-language online editions. Maya is a true member of the digirati, writing for blogs, working on our live television shows in Asia and editing video in FinalCut. She began doing analytics and audience assessment for Asia earlier this year.
Maya received her undergraduate degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2006. She worked briefly in health care before trading it all away for a career in journalism. She moved to New York in 2008 to attend the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, where she specialized in multimedia and arts & culture reporting. She is a superior athlete, who competed briefly on the UC Santa Cruz golf team, ran track and field in high school and has been a strong paddler for the two trophy-winning Dow Jones teams in the Sun Life Stanley Dragon Boat Championships in 2012 and 2013. She’s a self-confessed foodie, who also appreciates a fancy cocktail.
Bloomberg View hires McArdle
by Chris Roush
Washington, D.C.-based writer for Newsweek/Daily Beast and blogger Megan McArdle is joining the ranks of Bloomberg View, where she will be a columnist covering the economy, business, politics and national affairs.
Betsy Rothstein of FishbowlDC.com writes, “‘Megan is an extraordinary writer and thinker,’ said David Shipley, Executive Editor of Bloomberg View in a morning statement. ‘Few people have done a better job chronicling the economic, corporate and technological disruptions of the last decade. She’s going to make a lot of readers — those who have followed her for years and those who will discover her at Bloomberg — smarter and happier. We’re thrilled that she’s joining the team.’
“McArdle has been covering economics and public policy since 2001, when she launched ‘Live From the WTC’ from a construction trailer at the Ground Zero disaster recovery site. In 2003, she joined the staff of the Economist as Deputy Countries Editor for the website. She spent four years at the Economist in various positions, and launched its first blog, ‘Free Exchange.’
“In her past…In 2007, she left the Economist for The Atlantic, where she spent five years writing about the intersection of economics, business, and Washington politics. During that time, she helped launch Atlantic.com’s business vertical. For three years, she was also the magazine’s business columnist.
“She left the Atlantic in 2012 for Newsweek.”
Read more here.
Ex-Houston columnist begins Forbes blog on energy
by Chris Roush
Loren Steffy, who left the Houston Chronicle last month after nine years as its business columnist, has started a blog about energy on Forbes.com.
Steffy writes, “First, a little bit about me. I spent nine years as the business columnist for the Houston Chronicle, and when you cover business in the world’s energy capital, you devote a lot of column inches to energy issues.
“Prior to that, I spent 12 years at Bloomberg News as the Dallas bureau chief and a senior writer. I also wrote a book about the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, Drowning in Oil: BP and the Reckless Pursuit of Profit.
“I hope that this blog will be a hearty discussion of energy issues, from topics such as offshore drilling safety to public policy, from electricity deregulation to alternative energy. To kick things off, I’ve already loaded some headline grabs of articles I found interesting. For mobile readers, you can also find these and other articles of interest, including posts from this site, in my Flipboard magazine, Energy Insights.
“As the blog grows and evolves, I hope you will share your thoughts and insights, too. Tips and topic suggestions are always welcome. So with that, let’s get to it.”
Biz journal executive editor to lead New Orleans paper’s Baton Rouge ops
by Chris Roush
J.R. Ball, currently executive editor of the Baton Rouge Business Report, has been hired to become news manager of The Times-Picayune’s news operation in Baton Rouge.
A story on the Times-Picayune website states, “Ball, known as an award-winning columnist with Business Report, has also served as executive vice president of Louisiana Business Inc., the parent company of Business Report, 225 magazine and inRegister magazines and their related e-newsletters. He has also had responsibility for a special projects publishing division, as well as the company’s production and arts department.
“He has been with the Business Report since 1999. His 25-year career in media includes a 12-year stint covering LSU athletics for Tiger Rag Magazine and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“While covering sports, Ball was twice named Sports Columnist of the Year by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association.
“He briefly left journalism in 1996 as a co-founder of M&B Management, a sports and entertainment management and marketing firm. In 1997, Ball took a second job, serving as general manager of the Baton Rouge Bombers, a professional indoor soccer franchise, where he oversaw every aspect of the team’s operations.”
Read more here.
Times-Picayune names biz reporter
by Chris Roush
Katherine Sayre, a news reporter covering St. Tammany Parish, has been named a business reporter covering New Orleans metro area real estate and retail news for The Times-Picayune.
A story on its website states, “Sayre joined NOLA Media Group last fall after five years reporting for the Press-Register in Mobile, Ala., where she covered coastal communities and fishing and shrimping industries still recovering from Hurricane Katrina. She later moved to the state courts beat, covering capital murder cases and sentencing reform efforts.
“Sayre studied journalism at the University of Texas and received a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University. She will report commercial and residential real estate news, as well as the city’s increasingly vibrant retail business sector.”
Read more here.
Seattle biz reporter leaves paper
by Chris Roush
Puget Sound Business Journal staff writer Greg Lamm, who last year won a national Sigma Delta Chi journalism award for “Other people’s money,” a series of in-depth stories about Seattle financier Darren Berg, who was convicted of fraud and money laundering, has left the paper, Talking Biz News has learned.
Lamm covered banking and finance for the American City Business Journals paper. A replacement has not been named.
He left the paper on good terms and would be welcomed back.
“I have left the Puget Sound Business Journal to pursue freelancing projects and some longer-form non-fiction writing projects,” said Lamm in an email to Talking Biz News. “Mostly, I am taking the summer off to spend with my son, and launching into full-time freelancing this fall. No set topics, but I suspect I will be focuses on business writing.”
Lamm joined the paper in January 2004. He previously was a city editor of the Skagit Valley Herald in Washington state and the Leesburg Daily Commercial in Florida. He was also a reporter for the Tampa Tribune for four years. He is a graduate of the University of Florida and the University of Maryland.
Lamm received the national Sigma Delta Chi Award for non-deadline reporting by nondaily publications.
Buyouts offered to WSJ/Dow Jones journalists
by Chris Roush
A number of reporters who work for The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires have been offered buyouts earlier this week, Talking Biz News has confirmed.
One staffer said that they were given one week to decide.
A staffer described the buyouts as part of the company’s continuing efforts to integrate its Journal and Newswires operations. While a spokeswoman characterized the buyout offer as being part of the company’s normal course of business, a staffer said, “I don’t think so.”
“As ever, we are focused on maintaining the Journal’s high standard of excellence while also operating efficiently and profitably,” said a Dow Jones spokeswoman. “We continue to ensure we have the right reporting and editing resources for the task. Buyouts have long been an option for staff.”
A staffer said that layoffs are likely if enough staffers do not take the offer.
The Journal and Dow Jones Newswires are part of News Corp., which is in the process of splitting into two. The newspapers will constitute the bulk of one company, while the entertainment and television properties will constitute another.
Some of the other newspapers in News Corp. have also been decreasing staff recently.
