Categories: OLD Media Moves

Orange County Register cuts daily standalone biz section

The Orange County Register is cutting its daily, standalone business section at the end of the month, according to a story in Monday’s newspaper.

Mary Ann Milbourn wrote, “The Orange County Register is moving most of its business news into the main section of the newspaper at the end of January as part of a series of initiatives announced by the company this month.

“The changes, which will begin Jan. 30, are being made in response to the challenges facing newspapers in this digital age â€“ declining circulation, a loss of advertising, high newsprint costs and an increasing demand for instantaneous access to news.

“‘Shifting our business coverage into News is driven by a need to be more efficient in the type of news we publish in our newspaper versus online,’ said Terry Horne, Register president and publisher. ‘The Marketplace pages within the News section will continue to provide useful information on what’s happening in the business community, why it’s happening, how it affects Orange County.’

“Business news, now in the Register’s separate Marketplace section, will appear inside the main section Monday through Saturday. Listings of stocks and mutual funds will largely be eliminated, except for local stocks and market summaries. The Business Monday tabloid will also be dropped after Jan. 28. Only on Sundays will a stand-alone Marketplace section be published.”

Read more here. The Register is the largest U.S. newspaper to have cut its standalone business section.Â

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.

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View Comments

OCNative says:
February 5, 2008 at 2:16 pm
The Orange County Register just went through a redesign less than a year ago. Now they have had more layoffs, removing sections and again redesigning the websites. They wont get it right.
They have made so many mistakes, I don't know where to begin, but to get rid of some of their best reporters was a huge mistake in my oppinion. People read the news on Google etc. and it takes them to different news websites.
The register missed out on buying valuable internet real estate when it was cheap. So now they are trying to become anything that can sell way overpriced advertising.