Morris Communications merges print and online divisions during digital-first transition

Digital journey | Yelvington.com
Morris Publishing Group is absorbing the company’s once-independent digital division, Morris DigitalWorks. The move comes as the newspaper company makes a “digital first” transition and wants its digital audience and sales experts to be part of the core company, Executive Vice President Derek May writes. Morris digital strategist Steve Yelvington welcomed the transition in a blog post: “The old battles are over and we’ve won. We’re digital-first. … It’s time to turn the page. … Instead of being part of a specialized, separate ‘Internet division’ pushing for change in the newspaper division, we’ll be in the publishing group, pushing to change ourselves.” One of Yelvington’s first projects is to form an R&D innovation team “consisting of smart people at our ‘formerly known as newspapers’ business units,” who will “devote a percentage of their time to designing, prototyping and real-world testing.”