Atlanta daily biz editor leaving for Delta Air Lines job

Charlie Gay, the business editor at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, is leaving the paper to join the corporate communications staff of Delta Air Lines.

The senior vice president of corporate communications at Delta Air Lines is also a former business journalist. Kevin Shinkle was AP business editor before taking the Delta job a year ago.

Tony Wilbert writes on Skyline Views: “That said, his new job at Delta will center on a new content creation endeavor that the airline is about to launch (think the successful Journey homepage of Coca-Cola). Charlie is making the perfect move, for several reasons. One, is the growing trend of ‘disintermediation.’ The commercial real estate brokers who read Skyline Views know all about this. Basically, it’s cutting out the middle man or woman. As news outlets continue to struggle and winnow down staffs, large corporations as forming their own ‘newsrooms’ and creating their own, unadulterated content that they can send to a handpicked audience.

“Two, business journalists are the most marketable of all reporters and editors, when it comes time to leave journalism. They understand how business works and how companies operate – and they don’t have disdain for profit.”

Gay had been a deputy managing editor before taking over the business desk in October. The paper is also losing its business columnist, Henry Unger, who is about to retire.