AUDIO Pluto PD Bound

A big splash in the local media scene today as award-winning columnist and author Terry Pluto makes what had been rumour official with a newsroom announcement this morning he was leaving the Akron Beacon Journal and will be taking his talents north to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, his hometown newspaper.

This one's been kicking around for quite some time and the official announcement on the ABJ's website from editor Bruce Winges tries to nip in the bud much of the expected speculation on losing such a franchise talent, noting it wasn't unhappiness driving Pluto's decision but the opportunity to be read by a far wider audience with the PD's considerable circulation advantage. Terry began his career -- and says he'll end it -- with the PD.
(photo: Phil Masturzo/Grey Publishers)

We were told morale took a real kick in the teeth not only from shocked co-workers on East Exchange and South Main this morning but also as word spread to those off-duty getting calls from their comrades in the newsroom. There's been plenty of talk, both private and public, on the face the new Beacon Journal would be taking once the full impact of the sale from Knight Ridder/McClatchy to Black Press Ltd. took hold. It is worth noting that, in addition to Pluto, other names gone from the pages in Akron include food writer Jane Snow, Regina Brett (also to the PD) and even hometown editor Mizell Stewart to Evansville, Indiana and Scripps Howard.

Update 4:14pm

Terry talked with WKYC's Eric Mansfield on Eric's blog (read the posting here) and says he's not leaving because the Beacon is in any trouble but notes the great opportunity. Eric also has some great points in noting how the news doesn't rip readers, who will still have plenty of Pluto access but it does show problems for the ABJ in the local passion department. I recall an interview Ray Horner and I conducted with David Black (Black Press Ltd. owner; link is to WAKR site, scroll down to access audio from the interview) in June 2006 shortly after he took over the ABJ; he came across as a guy who knew his business and said the right things about local coverage but letting this franchise player go is a head-shaker. The same observations come from John Booth on Crain's Cleveland Business in his blog (posted here), noting he made Pluto must-reading even when he lived in Orlando and finds the spin from the ABJ's editor head-shaking.

The Plain Dealer's new editor Susan Goldberg, meanwhile, is ecstatic at the "get". Here's audio with AkronNewsNow and WAKR's Toni Cicone on landing Pluto back on 18th and Superior.

This really IS a big deal in the local media, not just for sports fans; Terry Pluto was as much the fabric of morning habits and setting the agenda for the watercooler as Mickey Porter used to be at the ABJ...some of you are even long in the tooth enough to remember the same when it came to reading a Fran Murphy story. The real assets of any media organization aren't the transmitters, printing presses, rolls of newsprint paper or event the latest web-friendly gadgets and schemes: it's the people. For the folks working to regroup and rejuvenate the ABJ this has to be a big blow.