It seems that the ultimate downside of getting rid of stock agate is that it has downgraded business sections. I just heard from biz ed Karen Miller that the Reading (PA) Eagle has moved its business section inside the paper most days. Yes, behind Sports once again.
And of course, now business staffs are disappearing into the metro fold, as has happened at the Indianapolis Star and Honolulu Advertisers. Of course, this might also infuse more economics into metro coverage, but my concern is that real coverage of business will be lost in favor of a beefed up metro team.
Another trend is for business editors to move into the digital ranks. Russ Stanton of the LATimes moved from business editor post to the new job of Innovation Editor, responsible for a digital thinking at the Times. And I just heard that Jeff Platsky, longtime award-winning biz editor in Binghamton, is moving to a new Digital Editor position at PressConnects, the paper's digital arm. It's possible his old business staff will be absorbed into metro as yet another Gannett paper reshapes itself.
Why does it seem that business editors make the digital turn faster than others in the newsroom? First, the demand for timely business news has always met that biz editors got the need for speed in an online environment. Business news has a lot of models for converged publications such as Bloomberg, Reuters, BusinessWeek and Marketwatch. Even luddite newspapers put stock quotes on telephone service or on the web before they moved other news to it.
Stay tuned, the changes in business sections -- moving inside or going away -- will be the talk of 2007.
--Marty Steffens
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