Morris closing Atlanta bureau

Word around the campfire is Morris is closing its Atlanta bureau. They laid off five people. They won't be covering the Braves, Falcons, etc., anymore. Anybody else hear anything about this? Have any more details? I've just heard it second-hand, but I thought there would be some in-the-know people around here who could fill us in.

 

They have blown off several Braves games over the past few weeks. If they shut down, it wouldn't surprise me....

 

Wow. I thought they just hired a writer to cover the Braves. Either I am thinking of another paper, or this is horrible news for that guy.

 

They hired Brian Costa, a Columbia j-school grad who had interned at the Miami Herald.

Hopefully, this news isn't true.

 

Maybe Adam Van Brimmer, a frequent poster here and a hail (or is it hale?) fellow well met can provide us some insight.

 

Just for the record, I heard this from someone who is VERY close to one of their main writers. Unless our signals got seriously crossed, this is legit. Costa, who was just hired in May, has reportedly been offered a job at Augusta that would cut his salary about in half. Van Brimmer left recently to take a columnist job at Savannah. Coble, the NASCAR writer, is being asked to join the Times-Union.

If anyone has first-hand confirmation/denial of any of the details I heard, I'd be interested to learn more.

 

Van Brimmer's gonna have to fill Tim Guidera's shoes in Savannah, but I think he can do it.
Does this also mean that Morris is gutting its news gathering folks in Atlanta, the ones who covered the General Assembly and other such icky stuff?

 

That I don't know, BBE. My contacts are all in sports. It's possible, from what I've heard, that they're just closing the sports part of the Morris bureau. But if I were to infer something from what I was told, it's that they're shuttering the whole Atlanta operation.

 

Thankfully, Brian's young enough to land on his own two feet at another paper. That is, if this experience doesn't sour him on the whole business. Jesus, Morris. Spend some money.

 

I can totally buy this move. I mean just because you own a bunch of papers in Georgia why would you want to put reporters in Atlanta?

 

wouldn't be too shocking. Honestly, with the Braves not having the high interest as five years ago, you have to weigh it more on the cost of covering them now than one used to.

Another question, if Morris shuts its atl bureau down, is what happens to Don Coble, the nascar writer for them.