Add Media General Inc. to the list of news organizations closing their Washington news bureaus, further reducing coverage of congressional delegations -- especially members from rural districts. The company announced last week that the Media General News Service bureau and associated Web site will close March 27. The six journalists in the bureau have been offered severance packages.
“We very much regret having to take this step,” Graham Woodlief, president of the company's Publishing Division, said in a press release. “However, as the economy continues to contract, and businesses and consumers continue to reduce spending, our advertising revenues have been adversely affected at unprecedented levels. While the Publishing Division reduced expenses in 2008 by 8 percent, excluding severance, we must continue to find ways to align our costs with the available revenue.”
Media General established a Washington bureau 30 years ago. Last year, "The bureau was reorganized into a multi-media team to take a Web-first approach to reporting and launched a Web site featuring sections dedicated to each of the 10 states in which Media General operates," the release said. “Even with the strong efforts of our bureau staff to adapt to the challenging economic times, it was not enough,” Woodlief said.
Media General outlets will cover Washington and their delegations locally, company spokesman Ray Kozakewicz told The Rural Blog. "They now cover the issues important to the communities they serve by being in touch with the local offices of their senators and Representatives," he wrote. "We will supplement that coverage with wire services and are considering other news partnerships that will strengthen our Washington, D.C. reporting." He said the Richmond Times-Dispatch, in the company's headquarters city, "will cover stories out of Washington on an as-needed basis. Given the geographic proximity, the newsroom regularly sends teams of reporters to Washington and will continue to do that."
Background from the release: "The company serves markets primarily in the Southeastern United States. Media General publishes 24 daily newspapers, including The Tampa Tribune, Richmond Times-Dispatch, and Winston-Salem Journal; and community newspapers in Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Alabama and South Carolina; plus more than 250 weekly newspapers and other targeted publications. The company owns and operates 19 network-affiliated television stations that reach approximately 30 percent of the television households in the Southeast and nearly 9 percent of those in the United States."
UPDATE: The company's Publishing Division is being abolished. "Media General Inc. said Monday it is reorganizing its business around geographic markets rather than traditional operations such as publishing, broadcast and interactive. Those three divisions will be replaced by five geographic markets, plus a sixth operating segment called Interactive Advertising Services," Editor & Publisher reports. "The new structure will follow the example of its Tampa Bay properties, in which The Tampa Tribune newspaper and other print products are produced from the same newsroom and offices that include its WFLA-TV station and TBO.com online offerings."
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