ProJo shuffles staff; impact to be determined

As part of a recent post-layoff reorganization, the ProJo is assigning its news staff to five different "pods," a move that will result in the three members of its investigative team reporting to two different editors.

The new approach, due to be implemented after January 1, will consist of the following pods, with about eight or nine reporters per group (and with the following editors): Public Policy (Tim Murphy); Justice (Jack Khorey); Breaking News (Alan Rosenberg); Consumerism + Business (John Kostrzewa); and the Future, aka health, education, and welfare (Dave Reid).

As part of these changes, I-team leader Mike Stanton, who typically writes about the intersection of politics and corruption, will report to Murphy, while fellow I-team members Bill Malinowski and Tracy Breton, who tend to write, respectively, about criminal organizations and courts, will report to Khorey.

As word of the reorganization spread, some observers drew the conclusion that the Journal's investigative team -- the paper's remaining crown jewel, along with its State House coverage -- is being disassembled. But one source describes the change in the I-team operation as relatively minor. "I don't know that they're not going to be doing what they were before," the source says, noting the underlying logic to the assignments of the three reporters. "Each has developed their own area of expertise." In other words, there might not be much of a change beyond who gets the first look at the reporters' stories.

Another member of the I-team, computer-aided reporting specialist Paul Edward Parker, has mostly been doing business stories in recent months.

Asked about the merits of the reorganization plan, which will reportedly be reviewed three months after its implementation, one insider says, "It's worth a shot," adding that its success will depend on its execution.