By Don Day

Continued economic weakness is hurting all forms of media across the country and in Idaho.With the downturn pinching revenue, radio companies are looking for ways to slash expenses and stay afloat.

In the Boise market alone, three of the four major radio groups have turned to layoffs, pay cuts and other measures.

Citadel Communications laid off a high-profile host at KZMG/Magic 93.1 and made a number of other staff changes.The group also cut pay for non-sales employees by 5 percent in … [Read more...]

Reporting still matters, and it always will

By Betsy Russell

Yes, this is a terrible time for our business. Newspapers are closing. Talented journalists are losing their jobs to layoffs, through no fault of their own, in all media.

What we do is threatened at a time when it perhaps matters the most – when people really need to know what’s going on, to understand how it affects their lives and livelihoods as our nation and state suffer through economic turmoil.
Reporting still matters, and it … [Read more...]

Among the dramatic cutbacks seen at news outlets across Idaho amid the economic downturn was the Idaho Falls Post Register’s decision to drop its Monday print edition as of March 2.  The paper has published seven days a week since 1996, when it added a Saturday edition. The decision to stop Monday publication – a day that’s often the thinnest paper of the week for many newspapers – is a sign of how far the cuts are reaching in Idaho’s newspaper business.

Here is an article by Post Register Publisher Roger Plothow … [Read more...]

Interviewed by John Miller

Age: 25

College: degrees in Journalism and Government and Politics from University of Maryland, College Park, Go 'Terps!
Hometown: Grew up in Meridian (well, moved there when I was 9), and graduated from Eagle High School

Career Path: I interned a lot in college, at The Buffalo News (Washington bureau), Capital News Service (Washington, DC), and Frederick News-Post (Frederick, Md.) during college. I was hired at Idaho Statesman after I graduated in May 2005 and … [Read more...]

By Melissa McGrath

Though the number of reporters covering Idaho’s Statehouse is about the same this year as last year, there’s been significant turnover, meaning a number of new faces. Full-time Statehouse reporters who have returned this year include Betsy Russell of the Spokesman-Review, John Miller of the Associated Press, Jared Hopkins of the Times-News and Dan Popkey of the Idaho Statesman.

Here is a brief look at some of the new reporters covering the Idaho Legislature this year:

Nick Draper, … [Read more...]

By Corey Taule

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared in the Post Register in Idaho Falls.

Post Register Publisher Roger Plothow fired Executive Editor Dean Miller on Feb. 18, citing a desire “to change the direction of the paper a little bit.”

A veteran of three decades in Idaho journalism, Miller began his career at the Twin Falls Times-News. He moved to the Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Wash., where he manned the newspaper’s Sandpoint bureau and later its full-time office in Boise.
[Read more...]