The Political Whore

After the jump I’ve got latest internal memo from Trib news chief Janet Coats on the reorganization of the daily’s newsroom in a combined newgathering operation with the broadcast folks at Newschannel 8 and the digital workers at tbo.com.

Lots of talk about platforms and finishing and such, but the hottest news for you info consumers isn’t in here: On Monday, multiple sources have told me, the Tribune will launch its reconfigured daily newspaper into one section of news/sports/whatever and a second section of classifieds/comics. The first tip about the changes to come in the daily print product came in Jeff Houck’s Food section column this morning:

SO LONG, FAREWELL, SEE YOU SUNDAY

One of my favorite ads on TV right now is the Dunkin’ Donuts commercial that starts with one of the characters singing the line, “You neglected to mention the sleeper sofa,” before breaking into an Egyptian slavelike moan. “I forgot all about the air hockey table,” the second character replies. More painful moaning, followed by images of possessions tumbling down an apartment staircase. The first character then finishes by singing, “Re-LUC-tant-LY hel-PING my friend MOVE!”

What does all this have to do with The Stew? Well, like George, Weezie and Lionel Jefferson, it’s time for us to move to that deluxe apartment in the sky-y-y, so to say.

On Sunday, this column and many of the features you read each week in the Flavor section will join with stories from the At Home section as well as fashion, parenting and pet columns, and articles each week in a new journalism condo we’re calling BayLife Magazine.

Not everything will be the same, unfortunately. As with all moves, (Gosh, this relocation metaphor is getting tiresome), Orlando-based columnists Pam Brandon and Anne-Marie Hodges, better known as The Divas of Dish, end their 20-month run with us. Their playful recipes were like a vacation for the taste buds. Their helping of sass and fun-loving attitude helped us remake the Flavor section earlier this year with a much more lighthearted tone.

We also say goodbye to Tony “Fatso” Siciliano, our king of barbecue and grilling, who joined after the Flavor section switched in March to a tab format. Thanks to his column, I’ve stolen more grilling tips than I’ll ever admit. We thank him for his work and wish him well with his “On the Grill” radio show each Saturday on WFLA 970 AM.

Jaden Hair’s Steamy Kitchen column will continue to appear weekly in BayLife Magazine, but Greg and Michelle Baker’s Culinary Sherpas column will run every other week.

“Recipes Lost & Found”? It’s making the move. “Consumers Ask”? Same. “Greasy Remote, “Cravings” and “Eat Their Words” will still run with the same regularity, too, just on Sunday instead of Wednesday.

All of which means - if I haven’t been clear - that the Flavor section will end its publication with the section you have in your hands today.

We at the Tribune all know it will be hard for you. Routines are always difficult to change, and the Flavor section has run on Wednesdays like clockwork since John McCain was a toddler. Flavor was a section you held on to, read during the week, shopped with on Saturdays and cooked with on Sundays. You and other readers have a relationship with Flavor. Recipes you clipped in 1968 are still in your files, just in case someone needs one they can’t find. As I wrote in March when we changed formats, I’ve always been honored to be a part of a section readers deeply cared about. To that end, we’ve tried to cover your life with food, not just about what was in the pan, on the plate or in your glass.

But this change is not only inevitable, it’s necessary.

While we’re all up in this change thing, feel free to drop into my food blog, The Stew. I’ll be posting items there more often - especially on Wednesdays when you want them the most. And the food channel on TBO.com with the catchy address - www2.tbo.com/static/sections/ tbo-life-food/ - will feature more stories, podcasts and videos as well.

If you want to chat about the changes, I’ll be glad to talk or e-mail with you. I’d also love to hear your ideas about what food stories you’d like me to write.

The Tribune made some cuts this week, four editorial employees that I’ve been able to sniff out so far with the biggest name being editorial page columnist Joe Brown. Embedded in the Coats memo that follows are the names of others who made the latest cut and still have news jobs:

We’re announcing today the composition of editors within each reporting group, the finishing groups and the Live Desk membership.

Let me start with the Live Desk, because this piece is a relatively new element in the reorganization. It is intended to serve the function of the WFLA assignment desk, but with a much expanded portfolio.

The primary duty of the Live Desk is to act as air traffic control – to know where all of our crews from all platforms are at any given time, to be able to share that information with others in the newsroom to make coverage decisions, to have the authority to redeploy resources as news and changing circumstances dictate. The job of this hub is to be the “right now’’ desk, the live desk, to know where our resources are in the field, communicate that broadly around the room and serve as the vital link between the decisions made in the field and those made in the newsroom. The Live Desk will be located within the Deadline work group.

Morris Pyle will serve as the operations editor for this group, working with the group on scheduling and managing the deployment of all resources – human and equipment. The live desk will be composed two editors:  crew coordinators who are responsible for managing all multimedia photojournalists for all work groups, and desk coordinators who are responsible for monitoring deadline coverage, keeping track of deadline news, the scanners and shifting stories from the field. The Live Desk membership will be Todd Chappel, Dave Geiger, John Strang, Rocky Glisson, Bob Westenhouser, and Joseph Brown.

Editors/producers within the reporter work groups are:

Deadline:

Kathryn Bonfield

Howard Altman

Cheryl Segal

Todd Pratt

Gary Sprott

Kim MacCormack

Joanne Korth

Aaron Knox

Watchdog

Larry Fletcher

Tom Arthur

Don Johnson

Data

Dennis Joyce

Jeff Scullin

Mark Guidera

Personal Journalism

Marty Strasen

Kim Folstad

Penny Carnathan

Dale Hokrein

Grassroots

Bayard Steele

Dave Nicholson

Sue Anastasia

Russ Holecek

Doug Jacobs

Pat Mitchell

Print Finishing leaders

Daily: Corrie Benfield

Weekend: Craig Gemoules

Sports Daily: Mike Garbett, Mike Farkas

Sports Weekend: Kim Pendery

Pasco: Mary McCoy

Rewrite editor: Rob Shaw

WFLA finishing editor: Paul Gourley

Tribune Finishing Team:

Copy Editors:

Paul Brouillette

Katrina Ferreira

Michelle Crawford

Amy Eisenmann

Kyle Hopewell

Stacie Jordon

Joinville Michele

Robert D’Angelo

Greg Gordon

Barbara Jiannetti

Michael Servidio

Michael Smith

Russ Cardwell

Ray Dupuis

Janice Hall

Theodore Hoffman

Leigh Hogan

Jackie Kunzman

Karen Lillis

Bill O’Keefe

Bill Prescott

Werner Schmalz

Designers:

James Holoman

Andy Smith

Sherry Hutchinson

Mark McDaniel

Larry Sullivan

Len Howell

Horace Brooks

Jim Carson

Pat Kane-Prescott

Fred Stone

Tammy Fisher

Pete Schauer

Bonnie Dyson

Robert Coon

Carol Parker

Steve Turner

Mike Winter

Kristin Ingle

Graphics:

David Williams

Andy Dorsett

Brian McGill

Angus Shafer (assigned to deadline)

Multimedia Photographers:

Fred Bellet

Andy Jones

Christine DeLessio

Candace Mundy

Robert Burke

Jim Reed

Chris Urso

Jason Behnken

Julie Busch

Scott Iskowitz

Jay Conner

Jay Nolan

Colin Hackley

Kathy Moore

Cliff McBride

Michael Spooneybarger

John Winterrowd

Bob Hansen

Paul Lamison

Kate Caldwell

Jim Hockett

Dave Kraut

Joe Martin

Eric Hausmann

Rugene Moore

Chris Coyner

Michael Egger

Jim Farquhar

Maurice Capobianco

Indira Levine

Katy Hennig

Peter Masa

Wally Patanow

Anthony Allred

Gordon Dempsey

Todd Davis

Pat Brammell

WFLA finishers

Anchors:

Gayle Sierens

Keith Cate

Video Editors:

George Karalekas

Pat Murphy

Edward Otero

Todd McCaskill

Jason Philipps

Anita Cummings

Producers:

Niki Durkin

Kim Polacek

Daniel Woodrum

Michael Pacheco

Nancy Ryan

Mark Parrick

Ginger Thorpe

David Hughes

Keith Browning

Associate Producers:

Lindsey Smith

Taniya Wright

Beth DeBevoise

We’re still working on configurations for A&R and for the reader’s desk.

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