Posted on 05/24/2007 3:57:49 PM PDT by abb
Another investigative reporting team bites the dust.
U.S. News & World Report this week disbanded its “I Team,” which had been a key part of the newsweekly since the 1980s.
On Tuesday Mort Zuckerman’s weekly magazine offered buyouts to legal-affairs correspondent Chitra Ragavan, national-security reporter Linda Robinson, and investigative reporter David E. Kaplan, who writes the “Bad Guys” blog.
“We had to make the decision to scale back on some of our long-form journalism,” says U.S. News editor Brian Kelly. “Unfortunately, that meant we had to offer buyouts to some very talented people.”
Ed Pound, one of the most talented and experienced members of the investigative unit, remains on the job at the moment (he did not respond to phone calls).
Kelly, who took the weekly’s reins from Brian Duffy in March, described the reporting changes as part of a reorganization that included hiring people for the magazine’s Web site.
Web sites are sucking money from the print staffs of all three newsweeklies. Time has trimmed its reporting and editing staff by about 50 people. Of the three newsweeklies, Newsweek appears to be the most stable.
Given the changes that have forced some venerable news operations to make cutbacks, the question of whether all three newsweeklies can survive is up the air. Judging from this week’s changes, U.S. News will continue to throw its resources and its future into mining the Web for its two brands: “News You Can Use” and rankings of colleges, high schools, and hospitals.
Without Ragavan, Robinson, and Kaplan, U.S. News is ceding national-security and investigative journalism to other news organizations.
Chitra Ragavan came to U.S. News from National Public Radio in 1998. According to her Web site, she authored cover stories on “crooks, spies, terrorists, war criminals, corrupt congressmen, whistleblowers, and other assorted characters.”
Senior writer Linda Robinson wrote about national security and foreign affairs. A Nieman Fellow in 2000–2001, she wrote Masters of Chaos, a book about the Army Special Forces. Robinson becomes a contributing editor. U.S. News will publish stories that are part of the reporting for her upcoming book: Battle for Baghdad.
David Kaplan has covered terrorism, organized crime, and intelligence for years. He’s also coauthor of the book Yakuza, about Japanese organized crime.
Kaplan will continue to write his "Bad Guys" blog.
Ping
They probabably figure they don’t need “investigative reporters” any longer. They can just print the DNC faxes, or sit in the newsroom and make up their propaganda.
Maureen Dowd has done that for years. She regularly writes about the administration without ever leaving the office or doing any interviews, far less traveling to DC.
MORT SLASHES MAGAZINE STAFF
By KEITH J. KELLY
May 24, 2007 — Mort Zuckerman is swinging the ax again at the struggling No. 3 newsweekly, U.S. News & World Report.
About a half dozen editorial people from the headquarters in Washington D.C. were cut yesterday, sources told The Post. At least one editorial person was axed in the New York office a week earlier.
Another reliable industry source said that six other people on the business side were cut earlier in the week. “They are doing it in waves for some reason,” said the source.
Over the past five years, U.S. News has probably downsized its editorial staff by one-third, said one D.C.-area source.
Although the latest cuts were mild compared to the previous downsizings that have shaken the magazine regularly over the past five years, they contributed to the recent departure of Editor Brian Duffy.
Duffy could not be reached yesterday. When he left, in March Duffy had said he wanted to complete a long-overdue book project. Although he is indeed hard at work on the book, his decision to leave was hastened when he learned that Zuckerman wanted more cuts at the magazine.
snip
How desperate is USNWR for subscribers?
They’re even sending ME free copies lately!
Years ago they put out decent news, but about the time of the Kennedys they started a left turn and each year became farther and farther left. I stopped my subscription a long time ago (YEARS) and told them why, but still get requests, discounts, and whatever wanting to renew. I have told them twice that I wouldn’t subscribe if it was free, but still get their trash in the mail!
Who needs those expensive “investigative” reporters when you can just publish DNC press releases, unedited!
I got that magazine for years until right after John Leo’s column disappeared. It was right around that time that the magazine took a sharp turn to the left. I let my subscription run out and never renewed.
Three more socialist hacks bite the dust.
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