Talking Biz News

Information about business
journalism from the
Carolina Business News Initiative.

Peter Kafka of All Things Digital, the Wall Street Journal site, has some of the people being let go from business magazine Conde Nast Portfolio, including senior editor Ken Wells, senior editor Jeff Garigliano, associate editor Jeff Van Dam, reporter Mary Bridges and staff writer Paul Smalera.

Kafka writes, “Ken Wells is the most high-profile name of bunch. He’s a Pulitzer finalist and a longtime Wall Street Journal vet (like many of Portfolio editor Joanne Lipman’s hires).

“He’s also a prolific author; his most recent book, “The Good Pirates of the Forgotten Bayous: Fighting to Save a Way of Life in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina,â€? came out last month. Portfolio hosted a book party for him just this week, an incredulous colleague tells me.

“Meanwhile, employees at Portfolio.com still don’t know who’s staying and who’s going. One of them tells me that half the 23-person staff will be let go at the end of November and the rest will stay through December.”

Read more here.

Washington CEO, a business magazine based in Seattle, has cut executive editor Barbara Morgan’s position because of concerns about the economy, writes Greg Lamm of the Puget Sound Business Journal.

Morgan had become executive editor in December 2007. She had been editor of the King County Journal, a publication based in nearby Bellevue.

Lamm writes, CEO and publisher Bob Ritter “said the decision to cut Morgan’s position came in mid-October, after the magazine completed its 2009 budget. He said he was happy with Morgan’s performance, but with the economy looking dire for next year, Ritter said he looked at resources and decided it made the most sense to cut the top editing position.

“‘We’re looking at a tough year,’ Ritter said. ‘I really hope I am wrong.’”

Read more here.

Jim Hammond, a staff writer at the Columbia Regional Business Report in South Carolina, has been named the new editor at GSA Business, a bi-weekly business newspaper based in the Greenville-Spartanburg area of the state.

Hammond had been with the Business Report for four months. He previously worked at The State, the daily paper in Columbia.

Scott Miller, a staff writer at the Charleston Regional Business Journal, will be joining Hammond at GSA Business.

All three papers are owned by Ohio-based Brown Publishing. It purchased GSA Business in June. The Columbia paper was launched earlier this year.

“The Greenville business community will notice an increase in the number and depth of stories with Jim and Scott leading the newsroom at GSA Business,” said Andy Owens, managing editor of the Charleston Regional Business Journal, in a statement. “Having worked with both of them over the past year has made us stronger in all of our markets, and I’m excited about the tenacity and commitment to quality they’re bringing to the Greenville-Spartanburg area.”

The paper did not say what was happening to Richard Breen, who has been the editor of GSA Business. 

Read more here.

TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE

Kevin Shinkle, the business editor at the Newark Star-Ledger, is leaving the paper and taking a job as an assistant business editor at the Associated Press.

Shinkle’s last day at the paper will be Nov. 12. He will start at the AP on Nov. 17. Shinkle declined further comment.

Shinkle became the business editor at the paper at the end of last year. He is taking the buyout offer from the Star-Ledger.

At the AP, Shinkle will be assistant biz editor for money, in charge of four teams: financial/Wall Street, real estate, personal finance and money and markets.

Shinkle had been the deputy business editor for six and a half years, but had also worked in the paper’s sports department.

Shinkle previously worked at Bloomberg News and at the Tampa Tribune. He also worked at the Chapel Hill News in North Carolina. He’s a graduate of Hillsdale College.

T.J. Foderaro, a deputy business editor at the paper, left recently. He is joining Harrison Scott Publications.

DISCLOSURE: I worked with Shinkle at the Tampa paper and at Bloomberg News.

Sarah Rabil of Bloomberg News reports Friday that BusinessWeek is ending its television show, which will result in the layoffs of nine employees.

Rabil writes, “The show ‘doesn’t align with our core audience of global business leaders,’ Keith Fox, BusinessWeek’s president, told employees in a memo today.

“BusinessWeek will focus on digital video rather than broadcast programming, Fox said. The employees at ‘BusinessWeek TV’ are part of 270 job cuts that McGraw-Hill announced earlier this week when it reported a 14 percent drop in third-quarter profit. The workforce reduction adds to about 1,000 positions already eliminated in the past year to lower expenses.

“‘The best strategy is for us to remain focused on those aspects of our business that are positioned to capture growth in both audience and revenue,’ Fox wrote in the memo.

“‘BusinessWeek TV’ airs weekly in 158 markets, mostly on ABC stations including WABC in New York and KABC in Los Angeles, according to the unit’s Web site. The 30-minute Sunday morning program started in October 2001.”

Read more here.

TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE

The Washington Business Journal was among the top winners at the 2008 Eagle Awards, the internal editorial contest for the 40 weekly business newspapers run by Charlotte-based American City Business Journals.

The D.C. paper won in the best writing and best design categories, and it was a runner-up in the general excellence and best use of photography categories.

The Philadelphia Business Journal and Columbus Business First were the winners in the general excellence category, while the Triangle Business Journal and Atlanta Business Chronicle were runners up.

The Jacksonville Business Journal and Cincinnati Business Courier were winners in the best impact story category, while the Atlanta paper, the Boston Business Journal and the Baltimore Business Journal were runners up.

In addition to the Washington paper, Columbus Business First was a winner in the best writing category. The Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal and Sacramento Business Journal were runners up in the category.

The Puget Sound Business Journal was a winner in the best focus section category, while the Phoenix Business Journal, Mass High Tech, and the Baltimore and Boston papers were runners up.

The Houston Business Journal and the Milwaukee Business Journal won for best special publication, while the Dallas Business Journal and Buffalo Business First were runners up.

The Tampa Bay Business Journal and the Minneapolis-St. Paul paper won for best overall Web operation, while Pacific Business News in Honolulu and the St. Louis Business Journal wererunners-up.

The Milwaukee Business Journal, Portland Business Journal and Orlando Business Journal won for best use of photography, while the Memphis Business Journal was the other winner in best design. The Boston and Buffalo papers won in the best individual research effort category.

DISCLOSURE: I was a judge for this year’s contest, along with three other UNC professors. ACBJ rotates the judging among journalism schools.

William West, the editor of the Central Valley Business Journal in California, says he was fired for writing a letter to the editor of The Stockton Record disagreeing with his employer over her presidential endorsement and her criticism of The Record.

A story in the Record stated, “Journal Publisher Sharon Alley-Calone denied the claim, saying she has West’s resignation in writing and would never fire someone over an expression of opinion. ‘He absolutely was not fired,’ she said.

“West, who had worked for the monthly regional business publication for more than three years, said he was terminated shortly after showing Alley-Calone the letter Wednesday.

“West’s letter, scheduled to be published Saturday in The Record, expresses support for The Record’s coverage of local issues. He also supports The Record’s endorsement of Democrat Barack Obama for president. Alley-Calone supports Republican John McCain.”

Read more here.

Marketwatch media columnist Jon Friedman talked to Conde Nast Group president David Carey on Thursday in the wake of the announcement that Conde Nast Portfolio will be cutting its staff and two issues from its publication schedule, and he came away with the impression that the magazine will survive.

Friedman writes, “Carey, one of the most respected magazine publishers in the U.S., tried to strike a philosophical chord when he told me about the cutbacks. He stressed that Portfolio will not be going out of business soon, as it has been rumored almost since day one.

“‘This is not a sentimental organization,’ he said, referring to Conde Nast. ‘If they wanted to exit the business, they would have. It could have been a blip for a day, then we move on.’

“Portfolio has been badly hurt by the conditions in the ad marketplace.

“‘It’s grown well, but we are not in a 25% compounded growth environment,’ he said. ‘In a year that’s pretty choppy, you’re going to find a lot of people optimizing their business model.’”

Read more here.

Reuters reports that rival Dow Jones Newswires issued a correction on Wednesday after it ran a story stating that General Electric Co. CEO Jeffrey Immelt had given earnings guidence for 2009 that caused its stock price to fall.

Reuters writes, “The news service said Immelt had been speaking hypothetically when he told a business group in Spain that he would ask his managers to maintain profits even if revenues at their businesses fell as much as 10pc to 15pc.

“‘There was no forecast, no guidance given here,’ GE spokesman Russell Wilkerson said. The U.S. conglomerate plans to issue its 2009 profit forecast in December.

“The report, which hit the news wire in the final 20 minutes of regular trading, hit GE shares. The shares dropped 4 percentage points at the end of the trading day, to end down 1.5pc at $19.20 on the New York Stock Exchange.

“The stock rebounded to $19.42 in after-hours trading following GE’s statement and the correction from Dow Jones.”

Read more here.

Peter Kafka of All Things Digital reports Thursday that Conde Nast Portfolio will cut two issues out of its publishing schedule as part of its parent company’s cost-cutting efforts.

Kafka reports that the monthly business magazine, which launched in 2007, will cut 5 percent from its editorial budget. The December and January issues will be combined, as will the June and July issues.

Kafka writes, “Recall that just two days ago Conde Nast publisher David Carey was expressing (guarded) optimism about advertising budgets next year. I’m guessing that if he were less optimistic, the cuts would be even larger.

“And what about CondeNet, the Conde division that handles Web properties for some, but not all, of the publisher’s magazines? No comment, but one might imagine Sarah Chubb’s unit will be cutting back, too.”

Read more here.