Media General D.C. Bureau Completes Reorganization With New Hires

By: Joe Strupp Media General completed a reorganization of its Washington, D.C., bureau that is shrinking its reporting staff from six reporters to four "multimedia" journalists working through a new bureau Web site.

Last month, the bureau began the process of change with the departure of four bureau reporters and plans to reassign two others to the new multi-media approach. Those departing the bureau were Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch reporter Peter Hardin, Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal reporter Mary Shaffrey; military affairs writer James Crawley; and national correspondent Gil Klein.

The bureau kept national correspondent Sean Mussenden and Tampa Tribune reporter Billy House.

Today, Media General announced the hiring of two other reporters for the bureau: Amy Dominello of the News & Record in Greensboro, N.C., and Neil Simon, who has worked as a producer for Fox News in Washington, D.C. Both will cover several states for Media General newspapers.

Running the bureau's new Web site. www.mgwashington.com, will be Mark Young, formerly managing editor of JSOnline.com, the Web site of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He also has been senior producer of TwinCities.com/Knight Ridder Digital in St Paul, Minn., and a senior editor for Congressional Quarterly.

?Our four senior multimedia reporters and a senior online editor bring a wide range of multimedia expertise and a depth of news experience as we transform to a Web-first operation with strong newspaper enterprise reporting,? Marsha Mercer, Washington bureau chief, said in a statement. ?Reporters in the redesigned bureau will cover geographic beats. Our aim is to make what happens in Washington meaningful to Media General audiences in our local markets through the best platforms -- online and print for now, and, in time, broadcast."

Media General operates 25 daily papers and owns 23 television stations. It had staffed the D.C. bureau with a bureau chief, three national correspondents who covered different federal issues, as well as three regional reporters who covered Washington for the chain's largest dailies -- The Times-Dispatch; The Tampa Tribune; and the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal.

The new approach will have the four multi-media journalists handling a broader range of beats and providing content for the new Web site, which has been operating for several weeks.

When news of the bureau changes broke last month, Mercer told E&P it was partly due to budget needs, adding, "We are losing, as many Washington bureaus have, staff. We wanted to save the bureau and this is the way to do it that makes sense going forward."
The bureau, which dates back to 1965, will provide more Web coverage, as well as video and other content for its papers and television stations.