Categories: OLD Media Moves

Winston-Salem newspaper cutting standalone business section

The Winston-Salem Journal announced Thursday that it would cut its standalone business section in an attempt to cut its costs.

The paper joins the Cincinnati Enquirer, Columbus Dispatch, Reno Gazette-Journal and Akron Beacon-Journal, among others, as papers that have taken this step.

A short story in the paper stated, “The Winston-Salem Journal will eliminate its daily business-news section, combine some Sunday sections and eliminate five positions to reduce costs, the Journalâ€™s president and publisher said yesterday in a letter to employees.

“‘As we all know, our industry is experiencing rapid changes in how consumers gather their news and information, and advertiser spending in traditional media is undergoing fundamental shifts,’ Mike Miller said.

“The Journal no longer will publish a separate business-news section, except on Sundays. Instead, two pages will be added to the Local section during the week for business news and stocks of local interest.”

Read more here. The Winston-Salem paper is owned by Media General, which also owns the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Tampa Tribune.

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.