Tag Archives: Job changes
LA Times film reporter accepts WSJ job
by Chris Roush
Ben Fritz, the film reporter at the Los Angeles Times, has accepted a job at The Wall Street Journal to cover the movie business, reports Alexander Kaufman of The Wrap.
Kaufman writes, “Nancy Sullivan, vice president of communications for the Times, said the paper would replace him in the coming weeks.
“‘Yes, Ben Fritz will be leaving the Times in the next few weeks,’ Sullivan said in an email to TheWrap. ‘We’ll be announcing a terrific new reporter who’ll be joining our entertainment team at that time.’
“Fritz is the latest in a string of recent departures from the Times’ arts and entertainment desk.
“Assistant managing editor for arts & entertainment Sallie Hofmeister left in June. Then, longtime film writer Patrick Goldstein, who wrote the ‘Big Picture’ column, announced his departure in August. A month later, Geoff Boucher, who founded the popular ‘Hero Complex’ fanboy blog, resigned and joined Entertainment Weekly.
“Other entertainment section departures include arts and entertainment editor Craig Turner and Nightlife Editor Dean Kuipers. A year ago, TheWrap hired the Times’ former online arts and entertainment editor, Lisa Fung, as its first executive editor.”
Read more here.
Pacific Coast Business Times looks at steady growth
by Chris Roush
Henry Dubroff, the editor and founder of the Pacific Coast Business Times in California, writes about the paper’s continued growth and recent changes.
Dubroff writes, “We’ve also made a number of successful leadership changes. Publisher Linda le Brock has completed her first full year of running our sales and business operations, and she has produced some of the best results in our history. She’s given the Business Times an infusion of energy, social media smarts and marketing savvy.
“We also have the largest business news department between Los Angeles and the Bay area.
“Last year we promoted Stephen Neills to senior editor and he has begun taking over editing and story development responsibilities. Marlize van Romburgh was promoted to managing editor, a role that involves guiding our production processes and leading the way on digital initiatives. Both of them also continue to cover their respective beats.
“Last summer, we hired Dara Barney, a gifted journalism graduate of the University of Idaho, to the newly created position of Research Director/Special Reports Editor. She is in charge of all of our special sections, our Top 25 lists and our public records.”
Read more here.
Dean of West Virginia biz journalists set to retire
by Chris Roush
George Hohmann, the business editor of the Charleston Daily Mail in West Virginia, is retiring on Feb. 15.
Brad McIlhenny of The Daily Mail writes, “‘We are going to miss George but wish him the very best in retirement,’ said Nanya Friend, the editor and publisher of the Daily Mail.
“H’e has been the definitive voice in business coverage in this state since he joined us nearly 15 years ago. Luckily, our readers will continue to see his byline as he writes on a freelance basis.’
“Jared Hunt, a 31-year-old Jackson County resident who has been covering West Virginia government news for the Daily Mail, will fill the business editor position.
“‘Jared is a natural to step into the business editor role,’ Friend said. ‘He is deeply interested in economic issues and understands what makes businesses tick. He’s excited about this position, and I am excited for him and our readers.’
“Hunt joined the Daily Mail in June 2010 after accumulating years of business and journalistic experience.”
Read more here.
Fortune names Mehta as deputy managing editor
by Chris Roush
Stephanie Mehta has been named deputy managing editor of Fortune magazine.
She replaces Hank Gilman, who left the magazine last month.
In an email, Time Inc. editor in chief Martha Nelson writes:
On the recommendation of FORTUNE Managing Editor Andy Serwer, I am pleased to announce the promotion of Stephanie Mehta to Deputy Managing Editor of FORTUNE. Stephanie has long had one of the biggest purviews at FORTUNE. She serves as the brand’s International Editor, oversees its technology coverage and its Washington coverage, and acts as co-chair of the FORTUNE Most Powerful Women Summit and the FORTUNE Brainstorm Tech Conference.
On top of that (if you can imagine), Stephanie helps steer the overall editorial direction of the magazine with great news sense and sophistication, and is a much sought-after mentor to writers and reporters from the most senior to the most junior. “Stephanie is everyone’s favorite colleague,” says Andy Serwer. “It’s remarkable that someone who does so much is so gracious and generous too.”
Stephanie joined FORTUNE from The Wall Street Journal, where she was an assistant news editor, reporting and editing technology stories. She wrote extensively about telecommunications at the Journal, focusing on wireless and local phone companies, (hence the ‘Stephanie Telephony’ moniker.) She joined the Journal in 1994 as a staff reporter for the paper’s Enterprise group and was promoted to deputy bureau chief of that group in 1996. Prior to joining the Journal, she worked as a business reporter for the Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, VA, which according to the paper’s website “is the Number 1 source of news, information, entertainment and advertising in Southeast Virginia and northeastern North Carolina…and has been named “best paper in the state of Virginia” for 26 of the past 32 years.” (I’m sure the other six years were all after she left.)
Stephanie is also a Wildcat through and through, having received a B.A. in English and an M.S. in journalism from Northwestern University.
Please join Andy and me in congratulating Stephanie and wishing her the best in this important new role.
Bloomberg Government making layoffs, including Pulitzer winner
by Chris Roush
Bloomberg Government, a unit of Bloomberg LP that covers the intersection of government and business, is laying off an undetermined number of employees on Thursday, a person from within the unit confirmed to Talking Biz News.
One of those laid off is Lisa Getter, who won a Pulitzer Prize when she worked for The Miami Herald in the 1990s.
The head of Bloomberg Government will be holding a Town Hall meeting at 10:45 a.m. to discuss the “strategic realignment,” Talking Biz News is told.
Those losing their jobs will be able to apply for other jobs within the company. Another source at the company expected the total number of employees to lose their jobs to be about a dozen. A third source said the number is higher — about two dozen.
Bloomberg Government launched in January 2011, and it has employed hundreds of business journalists.
BGOV journalists report on minutiae — who got a subcommittee appointment on the Hill — but also report and write ‘deep dives’ and analysis that explain government to the business world.
Customers pay $5,700 a year for access to a trove of information — campaign contributions breakdowns, analysis of federal contracting, directories of agency and congressional staff members and parsing of legislation and regulations.
In September 2011, Bloomberg acquired The Bureau of National Affairs Inc., for just less than $1 billion. The deal was intended to help boost its Bloomberg Law operations. However, as the company was integrated, it was discovered that BNA’s operations meshed also with BGOV.
UPDATE:
From a BGOV source who attended the Town Hall meeting:
Don Baptiste, the head of BGOV and one of its founders, said “2012 was a year of real momentum for BGOV… We greatly diversified beyond Capitol Hill to K Street, Fortune 500 companies, associations and non-profits, growing our corporate seats by over 75 percent. We deepened our relationships with key clients. We now have dozens of Fortune 500 companies as clients and thousands of users since BGOV launched two years ago. And overall, we’re up over 50 percent in the number of total BGOV seats from this time last year.
“One of the best attributes of BGOV, and Bloomberg L.P., is that we are never complacent. We always innovate, improve and keep looking forward. For this reason, Bloomberg L.P. continues to grow as well, and we remain one of the largest media and information services here in the Washington DC area. This growth has also brought the company multiple sources of proprietary content, and Bloomberg is working hard to maximize this content across our many platforms and rationalize operations wherever possible. This affects BGOV, because as you know we draw content from diverse sources within the organization, and we can leverage this content to invest in other areas of our business.
“Because of this — and after much discussion and consultation — we have decided to eliminate a number of positions, and we informed those individuals earlier today. Anyone affected by this realignment will have the opportunity to apply for a position elsewhere in the organization.
“The changes we’re making today have a clear purpose in pursuit of our common goal: To ensure that that everything we do — from our strategy and sales efforts, to our product development and customer service — is focused on always delivering the most value to our customers. We see positive momentum across all areas of BGOV, and we closed out 2012 on a strong note, exceeding our revised forecast…We started BGOV to create the premier, one-stop information service in Washington. Because of your hard work…we are well on our way, and every day is a day we move closer to that reality.”
Fort Worth paper lays off consumer watchdog columnist
by Chris Roush
Dave Lieber, the consumer watchdog columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, has been laid off after 20 years at the paper.
Jeff Prince of the Fort Worth Weekly writes, “Lieber accepted the layoff with grace and his typical optimistic outlook.
“‘I thank the paper for giving me 20 of the most exciting years a guy could ever have in Texas,’ he said. ‘The Star-Telegram prepared me for the rest of my life – to help people.’
“Lieber will continue writing consumer columns at his Watchdog Nation web site, and he can also be found at his Facebook page.
“The layoff makes little sense — Lieber was an enthusiastic and absolutely tireless promoter of himself, his column, and the newspaper. Lieber’s prominent face and voice was on a level with fellow columnists Bud Kennedy and Bob Ray Sanders.
“And Lieber did a lot of good for the community, looking out for underdogs, the voiceless, the aged, the conned, and the screwed over.
“‘He was an invaluable asset, you would think, given the fact that the kind of advocacy journalism and community interaction he supplied were among the few points of difference that the Star-Telegram — or any local daily for that matter — can still offer to keep themselves relevant,’ said a former Star-Telegram writer who was previously laid off. ‘It’s as if management is trying to steer the paper to a premature death.’”
Read more here.
Sports reporter moves to biz desk, asks for help
by Chris Roush
Haskel Burns, a sports reporter for the Hattiesburg American in Mississippi, is moving to the business news desk, and he needs some help.
Burns writes, “Because I’m new to the whole news side of things, I don’t really know what’s going on in the Pine Belt’s business world just yet. I need to make some acquaintances, see some new faces, and get an idea of what’s going on in the Hub City and beyond.
“So if any of you out there are business owners or managers and want to promote an upcoming event, let me know.
“Or if anybody out there knows about a new business opening, or even an old one closing, contact me about that as well.
“If your business is moving, expanding or going through any kind of change, I’ll be glad to talk to you about that too.”
Read more here.
New York paper names new biz editor
by Chris Roush
Len LaCara, the exclusive enterprise editor at The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, has been named the paper’s business editor.
He replaces Steve Sink, who retired at the end of 2012.
A story on its website states,”‘Len brings more than 30 years of journalism and management experience to the business editor’s job,’ said Karen Magnuson, editor and vice president/news. ‘He’s a native Rochesterian who loves this community and is committed to serving it well. I think Len is just the editor to maintain the sophistication of the business report while elevating digital storytelling across all platforms.’
“LaCara worked at the Democrat and Chronicle from 1989-95 and has held editing positions at Gannett properties in Springfield, Mo.; Huntington, W.Va.; and central Ohio. He returned to Rochester in April.”
Read more here. LaCara is a 1982 graduate of Marquette University.
Marketwatch.com names two new editors
by Chris Roush
Jonathan Krim, the acting editor of Marketwatch.com, sent out the following staff announcement on Wednesday afternoon:
I am delighted to announce that two WSJ/WSJDN stars are taking new roles at MarketWatch:
Silvia Ascarelli, a longtime Wall Street Journalist, will join us as Senior News Editor. Silvia has deep and varied markets experience, serving as a news editor at the Journal since 2005 and responsible for the team that handles the Money & Investing portion of the Asian and European editions.
Before joining the desk, she was a reporter in London and Frankfurt for 17 years for either the Journal or Dow Jones Newswires, writing about everything from banker behavior on IPOs and stock-exchange deals (that often fell apart) to an earlier European currency crisis. She previously worked for the Jersey Journal in Jersey City and The Times in Hammond, Indiana. Silvia will have several duties in her new role, including managing the MarketWatch homepage for portions of the day and helping to coordinate and edit news and special-projects coverage.
A graduate of the University of Missouri, she took off the summer of 2000 to bicycle 4,345 miles across the U.S., but now mostly settles for biking to the train station.
Jessica Marmor Shaw, currently an editor on the WSJ mobile team, will become Mobile Editor for MarketWatch. Jess joined WSJ.com in 2005 on the night news desk, eventually managing the team for two years. She led the online night news desk through pivotal changes for both online and print, including the transition to Methode publishing, the growth of the paper in the form of Greater New York, Off Duty and Review and the launch of the WSJ iPad app.
In 2011, she brought her experience with news production to the WSJ mobile team, and in the past year helped to expand the design and interactive capabilities of the app, helped to launch the “universal” WSJ iPad/iPhone app, and helmed the mobile 2012 election day effort.
In her new role, Jess will oversee all mobile editorial strategy and execution for MarketWatch, including spearheading the launch of a new universal app this spring. Currently based in San Francisco, she is a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and Williams College. In her off time, Jess is a fanatic about yoga, particularly the kind where the room is about 392 degrees. Celsius. Or something like that.
Start dates on both are being formalized. Please join me in congratulating Silvia and Jess.
Bloomberg Pursuits adds two staffers
by Chris Roush
Bloomberg Pursuits is building up as it moves into its quarterly frequency this year under new editor, Ted Moncreiff.
The magazine has hired a new art director, Anton Ioukhnovets.
He was recently W’s design director and spent 2003 to 2010 as GQ’s art director.For most of 2012, he was the creative director of Lotus, which was nominated as a finalist for Magazine Of The Year by the Society of Publication Designers; cover and icon designer for Charles Duhigg’s book, “Power Of The Habit”; and book and cover designer for “Mark Seliger: The Music Book.”
He reports to Bloomberg Markets creative director Siung Tjia.
Also coming aboard is Stephen Jacoby as luxury marketing consultant, after spending time at Esquire and probably most famous for creating the Esquire “Signature Spaces” (a.k.a. “Esquire Apartment) which is a big high-profile marketing vehicle.
Before that he spent 16 years at Conde Nast overseeing corporate marketing.
