Analysis: N-J Departures lead to five ‘help wanted’ ads and for now no business staff at News Journal

The News Journal has the help wanted sign out as job cuts and voluntary departures temporarily leave it without a business news staff.

As part of a previously announced Gannett corporate move, all staff had to reapply for new jobs, many of which are said to reflect Gannett’s priorities in terms of streamlining operations and dealing with a changing environment that has more people getting news from social media and online sources.

Some staffers here and elsewhere refused to reapply for positions and moved on to other jobs.

In the case of the News Journal, the departures left a number of openings that can be filled, perhaps by lower paid reporters and editors. The website JournalismJobs.com is advertising openings for five positions, including slots for small business and corporate reporters.

Departures that have included the business/health editor earlier in the year have left the paper with no business desk.

Business reporter Aaron Nathans, who had bylines on an almost daily basis, took a position with an economic organization in neighboring Pennsylvania.

Business coverage is now being handled by existing staff. Longtime business reporter Maureen Milford is contributing to the coverage, although she is not listed as a business reporter in the DelawareOnLine.com directory. Other openings include Wilmington reporter, engagement editor and watchdog editor.

No opening for a business editor was listed. Gannett has been eliminating such positions as it shifts reduced budgets in the direction of reporting.

Newsroom veterans say the lack of veteran editors is already being felt in terms of the quality of copy.

On the business reporting side, requirements for specialization are more apparent than in other local news areas due to the need to understand the complexities of corporations and even smaller businesses.

Another factor is the often uneasy relationship between journalists and companies that often only hear from reports during a crisis or disaster. Executives also balk at dealing with reporters lacking background knowledge of business.

Finally, Delaware has a large incorporation community that relies on a judicial system developed over the past century that deals with corporate disputes. That system remains under pressure, due to other states seeking incorporation revenue and moves at the federal level to take away some of the advantages enjoyed by the state.

Coverage of that area has been sporadic over the years, triggering some complaints within the legal community.

The News Journal and other daily papers have been forced to face the realities of the print world that were accelerated by the recent recession.

The Sunday circulation of the News Journal Sunday edition now stands at 95,000, according to a report a year ago from the Alliance for Audited Media. That compares to the 2009 circulation of 112,000.

The average daily print circulation of the News Journal, as of last year, was 72,000, compared to the 2009 figure of 84,000, the report indicated. A portion of that higher figure was due to “churn” caused by people getting the paper at a discount, dropping it and waiting for the next deal.

Figures from 2007, show the extent of the decline during the downturn, with a 2007 daily circulation of 114,000 and more than 130,000 on Sunday.

Newspaper circulation has been dropping for decades. However, Delaware was somewhat insulated from that trend as the state experienced higher population growth than other East Coast locations.

On the revenue side, the News Journal was also insulated from local television competition as Philadelphia TV rates were too high for Delaware advertisers.

The state’s second largest newspaper operator, Gatehouse, is also looking for reporters. That company previously slashed staff at weeklies that include the Dover Post and Hockessin Community News. Gatehouse entered the state through an aggressive acquisition strategy on the belief that smaller publications were less prone to industry trends.

Newspaper companies counter falling circulation figures by noting its heavy web traffic, although those numbers have been held down by a “paywall” that limits non-subscribers to a handful of views of content per month.

The recent job cuts at the News Journal are believed to total about a dozen and include sports, photography, copy desk, editors, news assistants and reporters. Added in with the previous loss of 28 positions last year, the size of the staff has shrunk dramatically.

At one time, the News Journal had a business staff totaling six. News Journal management has not commented on the cutbacks to date, a contrast to the announcements made during the previous job cuts that led to the end of two niche publications, Spark and Signature Brandywine. – Doug Rainey

 For an earlier commentary, see   Hunger Games in the waning days of  print era.