June 2008 Biz Buzz: California papers change biz editors

By Chris Roush croush@email.unc.edu

TIME BIZ PUBS SHUFFLE LEADERS

Fortune magazine names Craig Matters, who had been the executive editor at Money, as its executive editor. Matters will lead Fortune.com and helping to oversee technology and investing coverage.

He replaces Josh Quittner, who went to Time. Matters will work with both print and online writers to increase Fortune’s technology and investing coverage in the magazine and online at Fortune.com on CNNMoney. Matters will report to managing editor Andy Serwer.

“With both a digital and print background, Craig is uniquely suited for this role,” says Serwer. “I am thrilled to welcome him to Fortune, and I know is he going to help us build on our success.”

Matters (left)left Money in 2001 to become the founding editor of CNNMoney.com, the business and finance news Web site with 10.4 million unique monthly visitors, according to Nielsen Online. He rejoined Money in 2004 as executive editor.

Meanwhile, Diane Stark and Ellen Harris, both assistant managing editors at Money magazine, have both been promoted to executive editors at the personal finance glossy.

In addition, Beth Fenner and Patrick Regnier become assistant managing editors.

Meanwhile, Money columnist Jason Zweig leaves the publication to become personal finance columnist at The Wall Street Journal. He starts there on July 1.

LA TIMES NAMES NEW BIZ EDITOR

Deputy business editor Sallie Hofmeister becomes the new business editor at the Los Angeles Times, according to an internal e-mail from editor Russ Stanton.

She replaces Davan Maharaj, who becomes managing editor. Before being promoted into the editing ranks at the Times in early 2006, Hofmeister was one of the country’s top media reporters, spending the better part of a decade chronicling the biggest stories of that era — the disastrous AOL/Time Warner deal, Comcast’s unsuccessful bid for Walt Disney Co. and the collapse of Adelphia Communications.

Stanton wrote, “For the last 18 months, Sallie (left) supervised our coverage of entertainment and technology, two of the region’s most important industries, and was responsible for some of the paper’s signature work in 2007: the Hollywood writers strike that crippled the TV industry. Sallie and her team found innovative ways to tell the story in print and online. She constantly pushed her reporters to break news on the Web, and to step back and look at the broader picture for print. That body of work is now a finalist in the breaking-news category of the Gerald Loeb Awards.

“Sallie had the unenviable task of leading our coverage of the sale of Tribune Co., a hugely stressful 17-month saga that she handled with characteristic style and grace. Amid all the tumult inside the paper, and amid the usual drama of the entertainment community, Sallie still found time to handle enterprise stories, including a groundbreaking project that detailed the finances and budget breakdown of the movie “Sahara.” The unusual presentation of graphics, photos, smaller chunks of text and Web features made it an instant hit both in print and online.”

Before joining The Times, Hofmeister was an editor in the business section of the New York Times. She began her journalism career as a staff writer at Venture magazine. Hofmeister is a 1980 graduate of Kansas State University.

OC REGISTER BIZ EDITOR HITS THE STREET

Glenn Hall, who ran the business section of the Orange County Register for the past three years, leaves the paper to become editor at TheStreet.com, according to an internal e-mail from the paper’s editor, Ken Brusic.

Hall, (right) who had spent a decade at Bloomberg News before joining the Register, tells Biz Buzz he will start work at TheStreet.com on June 9. Hall will report to editor in chief Dave Morrow. His position is a new one.

Brusic writes, “Glenn Hall, deputy editor for innovation and business, will be leaving the Register to become editor of TheStreet.com in New York. There he will lead a team of more than 80 financial journalists. TheStreet.com is a publicly traded company founded by CNBC’s Mad Money Host Jim Cramer. Its Web sites cover the global markets and business news for both private investors and professionals.

“Glenn has been a strong contributor of new ideas and thinking during his three years here. He led the change from a fairly traditional business section to a very successful Marketplace section. He has inspired innovation both within our news and information center as well as throughout the company. We will miss his energy, enthusiasm and keen mind.”

No replacement has been named for Hall at the Register.

THE BEE NAMES A NEW BIZ EDITOR

Wayne Davis, who has been the deputy business editor at the Sacramento Bee, becomes the paper’s new business editor.

He replaces Cathie Anderson, the business editor for the past four years, who has been named the paper’s features editor, according to an e-mail memo from managing editor Tom Negrete.

Before joining the biz desk, Davis ran the paper’s suburban bureau in Elk Grove, Calif. He is a University of Missouri grad. He also worked 15 years in the features department.

Negrete writes, “Under Cathie’s leadership, the Business section was recognized for its overall excellence by the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. Cathie made residential real estate a centerpiece of our Business coverage and worked closely with Amy Chance to improve our coverage of the business side of state government — looking at how state government impacts businesses and the economy. Working closely with the news graphics department, Cathie introduced Business readers to a steady diet of outstanding illustrations.”

Anderson joined The Bee in 2003. Before that, she was an assistant business editor at the Dallas Morning News. Anderson was a also copy editor and an award-winning designer at the Detroit News before moving into assigning editor roles in features and business.

Anderson was recently on the SABEW board, but did not run for re-election.

BOSS WATCH

Patrick Chu at Bloomberg News becomes global managing editor for energy and commodities companies, splitting the beat with Tim Coulter, who will concentrate on markets coverage. Chu, who joined Bloomberg in San Francisco in 1997, has been managing editor for Asia in Tokyo since 2003…Monica Norton becomes the new technology editor at the Washington Post. Norton had been education editor on the Maryland desk…Harry McCracken, editor of PC World magazine, leaves to start his own venture…John Burr becomes the new editor of the Jacksonville Business Journal on June 9. He had been an AME at the Florida Times-Union, the daily paper in Jacksonville. Burr replaces Jim Molis, who leaves the paper to start a PR firm. At another paper owned by American City Business Journals, Colin Pope becomes editor at the Austin Business Journal. He had been the paper’s ME…Richard Bradley becomes editor of personal finance magazine Worth. He had been executive editor of 02138 in Boston…Washington Post business desk editors Maralee Schwartz and Tony Reid take the paper’s buyout offer and leave.

UPPER EAST SIDE

New York Times biz reporter Claudia Deutsch takes the paper’s buyout offer and leaves the business desk…Sacha Pfeiffer, (right) a business reporter at the Boston Globe who won a Pulitzer Prize, leaves the paper to cover health and science for WBUR-FM, a National Public Radio affiliate in Boston…Mark Peters joins Dow Jones Newswires, covering energy and environment. He has covered energy, gambling and telecom at The Hartford Courant since 2006…Jim Stinson becomes a business reporter for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle in upstate New York. He had been at the Nashville Business Journal…Neil Roland leaves Bloomberg News to join Financial Week as a senior reporter in its Washington, D.C., bureau. Also, Deborah Levine leaves Bloomberg News and joins Marketwatch to cover the bond market…At Mass High Tech: The Journal of New England Technology, James Connolly becomes associate editor. He had been at SearchCIO.com. Also joining the American City Business Journals’ paper is Michelle Lang as associate editor-digital. Lang received her master’s degree in environmental journalism and public policy in December from the University of Colorado.

WAY DOWN SOUTH

Assistant business editor Tom Burton and growth editor Kathy Williams take buyouts from The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., and leave the paper in late May…Peralte Paul on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution biz desk switches beats from banking and insurance to Fortune 1000 companies…Susan Decker leaves the Mobile Press-Register to join Dow Jones Newswires in its Houston bureau to cover the refining industry.

MIDWEST MOVES

Kiley Miller, the business editor of the Burlington Hawk Eye in Iowa, leaves the paper to become executive vice president of the Mountain Pleasant Area Chamber Alliance.

WEST COAST WAVES

Chris O’Brien, (left) a staff writer for the San Jose Mercury News, has been named a business news columnist. His column started May 18. He replaces Vindu Goel, who went to the New York Times, and O’Brien also starts a blog…Lindsay Riddell moves to the San Francisco Business Times to cover energy. She had been at the San Jose/Silicon Valley Business Journal.

GLOSSY GOINGS ON

Robert Batterson becomes editor of Anthem Publishing’s St. Louis business magazines, St. Louis CEO and Commercial Journal-St. Louis… David Andelman, the executive editor of Forbes.com, leaves the magazine’s Web site operations to become editor of the World Policy Journal… Janelle Carrigan has been named features editor of WSJ., the new glossy magazine from The Wall Street Journal slated for a September launch. Carrigan has been with the Journal for several years, most recently as travel editor of the Weekend Journal section. The magazine also names Jeffrey Podolsky as editor at large. He had been at Tatler magazine… Rieva Lesonsky, (right) previously the top editor at Entrepreneur magazine, joins AllBusiness.com, a Web site owned by Dun & Bradstreet, as editor at large…Senior writer Nicole Bullock leaves SmartMoney.

BACK TO SCHOOL

The Knight-Bagehot program at Columbia University’s School of Journalism named its 2008-09 fellows. They are: Thomas M. Anderson of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance; Elizabeth Harris of Worth magazine; Brian Hindo of BusinessWeek; Megan Johnston of Financial Week; Richard G. Jones of The New York Times; Natalie Obiko Pearson of Dow Jones Newswires; Daniel Sorid of The Associated Press; Kyle Stock of The Post and Courier of Charleston, S.C.; Stuart Washington of The Sydney Morning Herald; and Jim Wyss of The Miami Herald.

AND THE WINNER IS…

Wall Street Journal assistant managing editor Daniel Hertzberg is the 2008 Lifetime Achievement recipient for the Gerald Loeb Awards for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism. Former BusinessWeek AME Frank Comes will receive the 2008 Lawrence Minard Editor Award. This award honors excellence in business editing and recognizes an editor whose work does not receive a byline or whose face does not appear on the air for the work covered.

DON’T MISS THE LATEST BIZ BUZZ

SABEW wants to follow you to your new job. Please send your new contact information to sabew@missouri.edu.

Posted May 30, 2008