From left at Monday’s forum are Mitch Davis of WKBN, Mark Sweetwood from Mahoning Matters, Mike Moliterno from the Business Journal, Brenda Linert from the Tribune Chronicle and Sheila Miller from WFMJ.

By Dan Pecchia

A month after The Vindicator closed, big moves by new and legacy organizations have significantly reshaped the Mahoning Valley’s news landscape.

The Tribune Chronicle’s new Vindicator edition, the new Mahoning Matters digital news organ and other developments were in the spotlight Monday at a panel discussion organized by the Youngstown Press Club and the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County.

Representatives of the Tribune, Mahoning Matters, Business Journal, WFMJ-TV and WKBN-TV spoke to about 50 people at the library’s Newport Branch. (Stan Boney of WKBN-TV News covered the event.)

Here are four takeaways from the event and the changes it highlighted.

Mobilizing to fill the Vindicator void

Last summer as the Vindicator neared its Aug. 31 final edition, many on social media moaned that Youngstown would become a “news desert.” And while there is certainly less news overall today,  these developments have filled some of the void:

The new Vindicator hit homes Sept. 1, with several former legacy Vindy people on staff, including former regional editor Tom Wills, reporters David Skolnick and Ed Runyan and jack-of-many-trades Rick Logan. Trib Editor Brenda Linert said Monday the newsroom staff numbers 35 – about the same as the Vindicator in its last days. The Trib is looking to add two or three other news people. The Trib’s advertising department reports daily circulation of 27,000 for the Vindy edition and 18,000 for the Trib (36,500 and 23,500 on Sunday).

Mahoning Matters, sponsored by Google and the McClatchy news chain, launches tomorrow. The online publication’s staff includes Mark Sweetwood, former Vindicator managing editor,  and several other former Vindy people — reporters Justin Dennis and Jessica Hardin, copy editor Jeremy Harper and ad sales rep Mark Eckert. Much of the content, Sweetwood said Monday, will be “stories that need to be told,” with lower priority on routine meetings and police reports. There will be obituaries and sports scores, though.

Both local television stations have added staff and programming. WKBN-TV News now has two reporters (including former Vindy cops writer Joe Gorman) dedicated solely to creating non-broadcast content on the station’s website. Interestingly, 80 percent of the traffic to WKBN’s site comes from the station’s smart-phone app, News Director Mitch Davis said Monday. WFMJ-TV News recently added a Sunday “The Cover Story” broadcast segment with an investigative flair and has made its content available via Roku and other over-the-top channels, said Sheila Miller, executive producer.

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The Business Journal has added entertainment news after hiring former Vindicator entertainment editor Guy Dastolfo. Mike Moliterno, Business Journal vice president of operations, said Monday that three other former Vindy people are also on board. Some parts of the previously announced plans, like publishing obituaries, have been scaled back since Mahoning Matters emerged.

Most Vindicator news pros back to work

Sweetwood reported that most of the 30-plus newsroom employees who published the last Vindicator (other than those who retired) landed new jobs quickly. “That gives you an idea of the talent we had,” he said.

In addition to those mentioned above, former Vindy Editor Todd Franko works now for Report for America, a national nonprofit that supports local journalism. Former Sports Editor Ed Puskas is now editor at the Star Beacon in Ashtabula.

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Dan Pecchia with, from left, Mark Eckert and Mark Sweetwood from Mahoning Matters.

Local vs. Corporate

The Business Journal and WFMJ-TV continue to emphasize that they’re locally owned – now a minority trait among Valley news providers. Moliterno said Monday that he is one of three owners of the Business Journal, in addition to Andrea Wood, publisher, and Jeff Herrmann, chief executive officer. WFMJ has long been owned by Vindicator Printing, which had published the legacy Vindicator for 150 years.

WKBN’s Davis said that, as part of NexStar Media Group, the station benefits from innovations piloted across a network of 179 stations. That is especially important as news generation and distribution rely more on technology, he said.

The Trib benefits from buying power it enjoys as part of the Ogden Newspapers chain of 40-plus daily newspapers, based in Wheeling, W.Va., Linert said.

Mahoning Matters is largely a result of timing. Google and McClatchy had been exploring other locations to test a digital newspaper model. But they shifted to Youngstown after the Vindicator closing was announced.

Interesting Combo: ProPublica + The Business Journal

Shortly after the Vindicator’s June 28 bombshell news that it would close, ProPublica, a foundation that supports investigative reporting, announced a grant that would pay for a reporter in Youngstown for a year. Interestingly, the winner of the grant was the Business Journal, which has long leaned toward good news about local businesses and economic development.

Moliterno said Monday that the reporter funded by the ProPublica grant is looking into local economic development efforts, and previous reports indicate veteran Dan O’Brien is that reporter. This could be very interesting, as organizations that use tax and foundation dollars to create jobs are rarely subject to media scrutiny and some such outfits are Business Journal advertisers.

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Dan Pecchia is president of Pecchia Communications and a former Vindicator business editor.