The Tampa market has long been an example to those in the industry as a market where true convergence has been achieved through the combined properties of the Tampa Tribune, WFLA and tbo.com. Today the Florida Communications Group, a Media General-owned company, offered voluntary buyouts to half of the 1,326 employees, including those employees from sister-publications (Spanish-language Centro Tampa, Sunbelt Newspapers, Suncoast News, Hernando Today and Highlands Today).
FCG president John Schueler says this is part of a re-alignment of the company, but it sounds a bit like convergence to the next level.
From the St. Petersburg Times story:
For example, the president and publisher of the Tampa Tribune, Denise Palmer, is now responsible for content across all the FCG platforms. The president and general manager of WFLA, Mike Pumo, is now responsible for revenues across all platforms, and their operations at all platforms will also be centralized under a single vice president.
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Also in the article, a bit of irony: “All this news comes as the Society of Professional Journalists announced a 2007 Sigma Delta Chi Award in deadline reporting, online, given to the staffs of TBO.com, WFLA and the Tampa Tribune for their joint ‘converged’ reporting on storms in central Florida.”