Revolving Door Newsletter: 10.26.10

Digg Slashes 37 Percent of Staff; Food Network Mag Bolsters Marketing Team

October 26, 2010

Of the country's 24 biggest newspapers, 22 saw a circulation drop during the six-month period ending Sept. 30. The New York Times, Washington Post, and Chicago Tribune all watched as their figures dropped by more than 5 percent. Newsday slipped 11.8 percent. The Wall Street Journal continues to defy the odds, surging 1.8 percent, while the Dallas Morning News gained less than 1 percent, or roughly 1,000 copies per day...

New Digg CEO Matt Williams cuts 25 staffers, roughly 37 percent of the struggling news aggregator. The company will drop from 67 employees to 42 just months after chopping 10 percent of the workforce. Digg is hemorrhaging cash, but Williams believes the move will help him achieve profitability by 2011. With all the shuffling, could founder Kevin Rose jump ship soon? The timing would make sense, since he's more of a creative than a financial head. Don't be surprised to see Rose depart for other pastures...

Food Network Magazine snags Erin Hickey as marketing director and adds three marketing managers: Audrey Clark joins from InStyle, Amanda Thornquist comes aboard from Time Inc., and Kristen Prinzo moves from Alpha Media Group. The mag also taps CBS Interactive's Maria Viqar as senior marketing designer... Travel + Leisure promotes Jordana Pransky to vice president and associate publisher... Prevention elevates executive marketing director Kerri Fallon to associate publisher, marketing... Fine Cooking hires Jeff Nicholson as national advertising manager...

Want more Politico? Well, you're in luck. The organization will begin offering a paid subscription service starting early next year. It will consist of three verticals -- health care, energy, and technology -- and subscribers can buy into one, two, or all three (for additional fees, of course). Politico plans to hire 40 journalists to staff Politico Pro. The traditional website will remain free...

Google ups Susan Wojcicki. The Internet company's 18th employee, who once rented her garage to Larry Page and Sergey Brin, moves from vice president to senior vice president. She'll remain in charge of ad products... AgencySpy adds two new anonymous contributors... The Village Voice's Runnin' Scared notes the byline of Idolator founder Brian Raftery at NYMag.com's Vulture... Warren Buffet taps Todd Combs to oversee Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio... Seth Everett joins the Nets radio broadcast team... And there are changes at Simon & Schuster, the Publishing Group of America, and more...

October 26, 2010: Aminda Marques Gonzalez has been named executive editor at The Miami Herald. She had been managing editor there. (release)

October 26, 2010: Anders Gyllenhaal has been named vice president of news and Washington editor at McClatchy. He had been senior vice president and executive editor at The Miami Herald. (FBDC)

October 26, 2010: Tracey Weber has been named head of the North American consumer Internet and mobile division at Citigroup. She had been executive vice president of digital education at Barnes & Noble. (Publishers Lunch)

October 25, 2010: Jordana Pransky has been named vice president and associate publisher at Travel + Leisure. She had been vice president and advertising director there. (release)

October 25, 2010: Kerri Fallon has been named associate publisher, marketing, at Prevention. She had been executive marketing director there. (release)

October 25, 2010: Amanda Thornquist has been named integrated marketing manager at Food Network Magazine. She had been senior integrated marketing manager, Lifestyle Group, at Time Inc. (release)

October 25, 2010: Maria Viqar has been named senior marketing designer at Food Network Magazine. She had been designer at CBS Interactive. (release)

October 25, 2010: Audrey Clark has been named integrated marketing manager at Food Network Magazine. She had been integrated marketing manager at InStyle. (release)

October 25, 2010: Kristen Prinzo has been named integrated marketing manager at Food Network Magazine. She had been senior manager at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. (release)

October 25, 2010: Erin Hickey has been named marketing director at Food Network Magazine. She had been sales development director at Alpha Media Group. (release)

October 25, 2010: Michael Szczerban has been named associate editor at Simon & Schuster. He had been assistant editor there. (Publishers Lunch)

October 25, 2010: Nancy Davidson has been named Midwest director of sales at Publishing Group of America. She had been Women's Group publisher at North American Media Group. (release)

October 25, 2010: Debi Leibovitz has been named vice president of digital advertising at Publishing Group of America. She had been president at REPertoire. (release)

October 25, 2010: Jeff Nicholson has been named national advertising manager at Fine Cooking. He had been senior account manager at Playbill. (release)

October 22, 2010: DeWitt Mosby has been named advertising director at Smart Meetings. He had been advertising director at Creative Loafing Atlanta. (mb)

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