Cincinnati Enquirer Managing Editor Laura Trujillo is leaving the newspaper rather than stick around for the Gannett-owned title’s reorganization, Chris Wetterich reports for the Cincinnati Business Courier.
More than a dozen people in the newsroom are also departing, Wetterich reports: “Veteran employees told the Courier they are heading for the door because they would rather take a buyout package than go through another round of upheaval and the indignity of reapplying for jobs at a company they’ve worked at for decades.”
Mark Curnutte, Bill Koch, John Erardi, Sheila McLaughlin and Jessica Brown are among those leaving, as are three photographers, Wetterich reports. “Nearly all of the Enquirer’s 11 copy editing positions are being eliminated, although staffers in that department could apply for the new jobs,” he writes. “Copy editing and design of the newspaper will be done at a regional Gannett site.”
Editors will be known as “strategists” in the new Enquirer newsroom, Enquirer Editor Carolyn Washburn tells Wetterich. An email from Washburn to staffers says the Enquirer has hired several strategists already, as well as a daily news coach (Meghan Wesley) and a visuals coach (Michael McCarter).
Gannett newspapers all over the country are rolling out versions of a “newsroom of the future,” a massive structural change that requires staffers who want to stay to reapply for mostly new jobs. Steve Cavendish reported for Nashville Scene last week that the Gannett-owned Tennessean has brought in reporters from corporate siblings to help it put out the paper during the transition.
Comments