By: Mark Fitzgerald The Daily Herald is closing its news bureau in the far Chicago suburb of Kane County, but that doesn't mean it's abandoning the market, Editor John Lampinen said Friday.
The planned closing of the office that covers parts St. Charles, Batavia, Geneva and other towns in the county was first reported by the rival Kane County Chronicle, which suggested the action was a retreat from the fast-growing county. "
"It's a challenging economic environment, and business leaders are having to make tough choices," the paper quoted John Rung, COO of Shaw Newspapers-owned Shaw Suburban Media, as saying. "This is when we find out which newspapers are committed to the communities they serve, and which papers view these communities as ZIP codes or points on a map."
But the Daily Herald's Lampinen said the paper has the highest Kane County circulation of any paper in the market, and expects to keep growing.
There is no reduction in staff in connection to this change," he said. "There is no reduction in commitment to editorial coverage or to service to advertisers and the business community."
Closing the bureau is part of a long term trend away from the time when the Paddock Publications flagship daily "had small offices in virtually every community we served," Lampinen said. "We learned then that it was less important to invest in the offices and more important to invest in the coverage and service to the community. That is the case here."
The reporters in the bureau, located in St. Charles, will "stay in or near the markets they serve," he added.
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