According to the Milwaukee Business Journal, the people that will take the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s latest buyout offer include broadcast media columnist Tim Cuprisin, theater critic Damien Jaques, books editor Geeta Sharma-Jensen, education reporter Alan Borsuk, pop music writer Dave Tianen, music/dance writer Tom Strini and business columnist Tannette Johnson-Elie.
Most are arts writers. All, including Johnson-Elie, who chronicled new business and minority business stories, and Borsuk, on Milwaukee’s volatile local education scene, can be considered important local-oriented reporters, whose detailed reporting on the arts, media, education, and small business gave an important and influential segment of the paper’s readership something to look forward to.
Jaques is a legendary name in Journalism circles. His father was a journalist, and Damien has been consistently and devotedly reporting on the arts for most of his career. Cuprisin brought new life to the TV-Radio section, following on the heels of early Sentinel efforts by Chris Stoehr and others, and always emphasizing the local ups and downs of Milwaukee’s broadcast media.
Sharma-Jensen, Tianen, Strini, Borsuk, and Johnson-Elie owned their niches, and one wonders if they will even be replaced, or whether their activities will be merged into a one or two “combo” positions, echoing what happened to architecture reporting after Whitney Gould left.
I’m guessing the Journal-Sentinel will be happy to pay for freelance reviews. But behind-the-scenes analysis? Maybe not so much.
You can’t argue with the economics of the newspaper world. But you can argue with a medium giving up it’s unique selling proposition (USP). Local, local, local is what makes a newspaper or on-line publication different.
When big city papers started trying to be USA TODAY, their soul started to evaporate. You can read about Michael Jackson anywhere. What’s in the offing for the Milwaukee Rep, Symphony, Ballet, and so many more institutions, now that their important voices are gone?
The Journal-Sentinel has yet to announce replacements.