Media General closes DC Bureau

UPDATE FOLLOWS...

Just in to TMW, and a bit of sad news out of DC...media conglomerate Media General will shutter its DC bureau at the end of the month, putting six journalists at the National Press Building out of work.

MG Press Release:

"We very much regret having to take this step," said Graham Woodlief, president of the Publishing Division. "However, as the economy continues to contract, and businesses and consumers continue to reduce spending, our advertising revenues have been adversely affected at unprecedented levels. While the Publishing Division reduced expenses in 2008 by 8 percent, excluding severance, we must continue to find ways to align our costs with the available revenue."

The Washington bureau has provided news and feature stories to all of Media General's newspapers, television stations and Web sites for 30 years. In 2008, the bureau was reorganized into a multi-media team to take a Web-First approach to reporting and launched a Web site featuring sections dedicated to each of the 10 states in which Media General operates.

"Even with the strong efforts of our bureau staff to adapt to the challenging economic times, it was not enough. I thank Marsha Mercer and her team for their fine work and dedication, and I salute all the excellent journalists who have worked in the bureau over the years. The decision to close our bureau is very difficult, and parting with these valued journalists is even more painful in light of the strong contributions they have made to our communities," said Mr. Woodlief.

See AP story here.

Shaking my head in disbelief...
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UPDATE...

There's speculation late this afternoon that former News & Record reporter Amy Dominello may be one of the ones affected by today's MG announcement. TMW is attempting to get confirmation.

Dominello joined MG in January 2008 as a senior multimedia reporter in the Washington Bureau.

TMW's thoughts are with Amy. I've been there, it's tough, hang in there.

E.C. :)