Economist’s CQ-Roll Call Integration Wipes Out 44 Editorial Jobs

CQ

FishbowlDC just posted a memo outlining a massive editorial overhaul of The Economist’s newly merged CQ-Roll Call group and it’s a jaw-dropper: 44 jobs are being cut across all newsrooms. In the memo, Laurie Battaglia, EVP and managing director, writes: “These decisions, along with our earlier commercial changes, have been extremely difficult to make, and are now made only after a nearly two-month painstaking effort to review our editorial teams and determine our needs going forward. But we are happy to now say that our restructure is complete, and no further personnel reductions of this nature are forthcoming.”

With the acquisition of Congressional Quarterly, The Economist Group promised “the largest and most experienced” newsroom covering Washington D.C. CQ alone had more than 160 reporters, editors and researchers.

Update: Politico’s Michael Calderone has more details and the memo from Mike Mills, editorial director of CQ-Roll Call, explaining the new structure for the remaining 184-person editorial staff. (One plan calls for bringing the entire staff together for an off-site next week — for the first time.)

Among the changes directly affecting online, the CQ Consumer Publishing unit, headed by Scott Montgomery, will focus on Congress.org, CQPolitics.com, and a new political site for launch in early 2010 based on combining the “best of” coverage fro Roll Call and CQ. The first two are free sites. Not sure about the third.

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