“Digital First” Helmsman Leaving The Register

The editor who has guided the New Haven Register’s efforts to shift to an online-focused news operation left the company Monday.

Employees learned the news in a 10:35 a.m. email message.

The editor, Matt DeRienzo (pictured), has worked for almost 11 years for the parent company (under various corporate news) that owns New Haven’s monopoly print daily.

DeRienzo, 38, has most recently served as group editor of all the publications, including three dailies and Connecticut Magazine, owned by the parent company, currently called Digital First Media (DFM). He has also been serving as regional supervisor of the company’s New York, Massachusetts, and Vermont properties.

He took a buyout, effective Monday. Register Editor Mark Brackenbury assumes DeRienzo’s statewide duties. including overseeing the newsrooms of the daily Torrington Register and Middletown Press. ​“In his new role, Mark will be the strategic leader for all news content of the daily newspapers, digital sites, weekly community newspapers and editorial-themed non-daily products,” Register Publisher Kevin Corrado wrote in a 10:44 a.m. email message to staff. ​“He will oversee the structure of how each individual newsroom is aligned with the larger organization.” 

In recent months (DFM), which is owned by a hedge fund, has abandoned a chain-wide reporting intiaitive, ditched a plan to move the Register newsroom to downtown New Haven, and eliminated jobs in an already dramatically downsized newsroom as it seeks a buyer. (The company reduced its nonproduction jobs statewide from 88 to 56 just since January; the New Haven newsroom is down to 40 employees.)

DeRienzo reportedly approached the company about removing his position rather than further eliminating reporter positions. (One of his predecessors in top management, Tom Geyer, left the company two decades and two bankruptcies ago after refusing to carry out another round of newsroom cuts.)

Under DeRienzo’s leadership, the Register made historic strides in racially diversifying its newsroom despite having fewer positions to work with. This month those efforts earned the paper a Robert G. McGruder Award for Diversity Leadership.

DeRienzo said he doesn’t have a new job lined up yet. For the coming month, he plans to cover the Fifth U.S. Congressional District race for CT News Junkie.

“It’s the right time in my career to do something else,” DeRienzo said. ​“A lot has changed” at the Register recently.

DeRienzo wrote the following in his email to his staff, which a staff member forwarded to the Independent:

“This is bittersweet for me, and I apologize for doing it by email, but this will be my last day as group editor in Connecticut and with DFM.

“My position, Northeast Regional Editor, is being eliminated, a move that I support. And it’s the right time for me to move on in my career.

“I feel positive about where this leaves you all because of the strong leadership we have in place — including Mark Brackenbury, who was in Philadelphia last week to pick up his much-deserved Local Media Association Editor of the Year award. You’ve got the best of the best guiding your continued efforts, and you’ve shown through all kinds of adversity how much pride goes into what you do and how successful it can be.

“I would like to focus today on helping with any loose ends and outstanding projects or questions that I can help resolve for you.”

DFM CEO John Paton called DeRienzo ​“a terrific guy” who ​“was very, very bold in pursuing our strategy. He was very, very bold in taking on experiments,” like creating an ​“open newsroom” at the Torrington Register.

“You’ve got to give him all the credit in the world for doing it. He’ll be missed,” Paton said.

Paton: All Systems Go

Meanwhile, Paton (pictured) said the company’s “digital first” plan is proceeding ahead at full steam.

Paton, who has overseen the company’s transition to the digital age, noted in an interview Monday that the Register still employs more reporters than all other local news outlets combined.

He also said that Digital First Media (DFM), which owns 76 dailies among other media properties, anticipates taking in $200 million in digital ad revenue this fiscal year, growing that category at 2.6 times the industry average. A company division called AdTaxi has grown into an international venture with clients including News Corp, Belo, Gannett, and Media General.

“People in newspaper companies are nervous for a good reason. The entire industry is in a massive time of transition. That transition hasn’t been pretty. People are smart to be concerned,” Paton said. “But they shouldn’t be so concerned to the point that they can’t do their jobs. The company goes on to win tons of awards in journalism because it does remarkable work.”

He said it’s understandable that the fact that DFM is for sale would lead people to speculate that it is not doing well. He said that because “newspaper stocks are hot” right now, it makes sense to consider a sale as part of a range of options for the company’s future.

He acknowledged that “there’s a lot of heartbreak” in all industries when they undergo transition. “People want the cost-cutting to go away from an industry in transition,” he said, but that won’t happen. (Just last week The New York Times announced it is cutting 100 newsroom jobs. Meanwhile, its media columnist, David Carr, wrote a piece published Monday that praises the Washington Post for growing its newsroom.)

As for Paton’s future with the company, he said that would depend on where a new buyer takes it.

“Matt was a terrific guy.  He was very, very bold in pursuing our strategy. He was very, very bold in taking on experiments,” like creating an “open newsroom” at the Torrington Register. “You’ve got to give him all the credit in the world for doing it. He’ll be missed.”