Business News
Scripps Newspaper Division Begins Reorganization
Wednesday 26. August 2009 - New structure better sharpens focus of each newspaper on superior local content and market-leading ad sales
In a move designed to ensure that its 13 daily newspapers put increased emphasis on community-changing local content and peak-performing advertising sales, The E.W. Scripps Company today unveiled the first in a series of organizational changes that will enable faster sharing of best practices, standardization of business processes and more efficient utilization of resources.
In conference calls with investors earlier this year, the company has said it was considering structural changes that would simplify and standardize many business processes and enable the newspaper group to take advantage of its scale. The first step in that process is today’s naming of national leaders to key functional roles, including newly created positions to invigorate the focus on content and sales.
“To meet the rapidly evolving needs of our customers, we’re reorganizing our division to make sure all of our newspapers have a sharpened focus on delivering unrivaled local content across multiple platforms and developing the best sales organization in each of our markets,” said Mark G. Contreras, the company’s senior vice president of newspapers. “By making ourselves more valuable to our two most important constituencies — readers and advertisers — I believe we can continue our important public service mission while providing an economic benefit for our shareholders.”
The changes announced today include the creation of an operating committee consisting of two new national positions with responsibility for sales and content, as well as four other positions with responsibility for operations, finance, information technology and human resources. The committee members include:
— Bruce Hartmann, currently president and publisher of the News Sentinel
in Knoxville, Tenn., will become vice president of sales (print and
interactive) effective Sept. 1, 2009. Hartmann will have
responsibility for all advertising and circulation revenue across the
division, and all Scripps advertising and circulation sales directors
will report to him.
— Rusty Coats, currently vice president of interactive for the newspaper
division, will assume responsibility for all content and marketing
areas as well as interactive operations and strategic third-party
relationships such as the company’s relationship with Yahoo! and other
national interactive brands. When he becomes vice president of content
and marketing on Sept. 1, 2009, all Scripps editors, marketing leaders
and interactive staff will report directly to Coats.
— Frank Wolfe, currently director of operations, will become vice
president of operations for the newspaper division and will have
national responsibility for production and circulation operations.
Each newspaper’s production and circulation operations will report to
Wolfe.
— Robin Davis, the division’s vice president of finance and
administration, will continue in her role and will have all local and
regional finance leaders report directly to her.
— Jim York, director of information technology for the newspaper
division, will become vice president of information technology and
will be responsible for the standardization and rationalization of the
IT function within the division. All local and regional newspaper IT
leaders will report directly to him.
— Mary Minser, the division’s vice president of human resources, will
continue in her role and will have all local human resources managers
report directly to her.
Biographical information about the committee members can be found at the end of this release.
Also announced today was a change in the internal reporting structure of the company’s daily newspapers, which now will be categorized in one of two tiers. Scripps newspapers in the division’s six-largest markets — Memphis and Knoxville in Tennessee, Naples and Treasure Coast in Florida, Ventura, Calif., and Corpus Christi, Texas — will be considered “regional” media organizations. Starting Sept. 1, 2009, the publishers of the regional newspapers will serve on the operating committee and report directly to Contreras. The advertising and circulation sales directors will report to Hartmann.
The division’s newspapers in the remaining markets — Evansville, Ind., Anderson, S.C., Redding, Calif., Bremerton, Wash., and the Texas communities of Abilene, Wichita Falls and San Angelo — will be called “mid-sized” media organizations. The publishers in the mid-sized markets will take on the added responsibilities of the sales function and report to Hartmann.