Media General D.C. Bureau Shuffle Cuts Staff, Expands Web

By: Joe Strupp A reorganization of Media General's Washington, D.C, bureau will shrink its reporting staff from six reporters to four, while also changing from a setup of regional and national correspondents to four "multimedia" journalists working through a new bureau Web site.

"We have tried to create a bureau that would make sense for the 21st Century," said Bureau Chief Marsha Mercer, a 27-year veteran of the office. "It would not make sense to have a dual system - regional reporters and national reporters."

In addition, the bureau is losing its military reporter, James Crawley, a 17-year D.C. veteran and president of Military Reporters and Editors.
"I'm still planning to be MRE president, but [Media General] decided they wanted to go in a different direction," Crawley said when contacted. "There is not much to say about it."

Crawley did note that his departure means that three of the four top MRE officers are now either unemployed or writing as freelancers.

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 Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch; The Tampa Tribune; and the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal.

Under the reorganization, Mercer will remain, along with national correspondent Sean Mussenden and Tampa Tribune reporter Billy House. Two more "multimedia" reporters and a web producer will be added, Mercer said.

"I don?t know really where we are going, it hasn?t really been spelled out," said House. "I am not sure I have all of the answers."

Those departing the bureau include Times-Dispatch reporter Peter Hardin, Journal reporter Mary Shaffrey; Crawley; and national correspondent Gil Klein.

"They said we were free to apply for new jobs, but it was time for me to do something else," said Klein, a 22-year bureau reporter. "I took a severance package and will go out and find something new."

Mercer concedes the loss of reporters, saying, "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. We are going to more of a geographical beat structure and that is still being worked out."

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.

Washington staffers also plan to feature much of their reporting on a new Web site, www.MGWashington.com, where the multimedia reporters will cover different regional and D.C. stories for the chain's papers and broadcast outlets.

A look at the Web page indicates it is still being formalized, but already includes space for stories, videos, a column by Mercer, and even a quiz. Links are also in place to several Tampa Tribune sites, as well as a number of blogs and national Web pages, from Daily Kos to Huffingtonpost.com.

"We are still working on the Web site," Mercer said. "It will be evolving into 2008."