The word from Mizell

‘The sadness about seeing valued colleagues depart has been mixed with the hard work of resstructuring the newsroom around the staff members who remain,” writes BJ managing editor Mizell Stewart in his Sunday column on page A2

Stewart tries to quiet fears, or rumors, about cutting back on coverage by noting that coverage areas are being consolidated rather than eliminatede. He assures that David Giffels, Terry Pluto, Jane Snow and Mary Beth Bredkenridge will still be around. R.D. Hedenfels will have to provide coverage of both movies and television and Elaine Guregian will have to cover all trhe music, theatre and dance. Paula Schleis will have to handle a lot of business stories and Marilyn Miller will be doing more than writing obituatries. News coverage will focus on Summit County and selected communites in the old five-county area of Medina, Portage, Stark and Wayne counties.

“Though the circumstances are indeed difficult,” Stewart concludes, “we are still here–and our commitment to serving you has not wavered.”

A number of blog readers have asked why we have not posted a list of those who have been layed off and others who are leaving. The reason, as any staff member can tell you, is that nobody really knows how it is all going to shake down until the 60-day notice period is over. Some careers or severance and unemployment pay could be jeopardized without care.

You will re reading soon about some valued staffers in addition to Mike Needs and Mary Ethridge, who have volunteered to leave. Names that will be on the blog soon are Sarah Vradenburg, Debbie Stock, Diane Evans and Gloria Irwin. Also, please watch next week for a post on “Where we go from here.”