{"id":6680,"date":"2015-02-06T23:00:08","date_gmt":"2015-02-07T05:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=6680"},"modified":"2015-02-07T07:12:45","modified_gmt":"2015-02-07T13:12:45","slug":"crains-closes-washington-bureau-cuts-five-jobs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2015\/02\/06\/crains-closes-washington-bureau-cuts-five-jobs\/","title":{"rendered":"Crain\u2019s closes Washington bureau, cuts five jobs"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Paul<\/a>

<\/a> Paul Merrion<\/p><\/div>\n

Veteran business and government reporter Paul Merrion, one of the founding staffers of Crain\u2019s Chicago Business,<\/a> is out after nearly four decades as chief of the publication\u2019s Washington, D.C. bureau.<\/p>\n

Merrion, 62, was one of five employees whose positions were eliminated this week at the Chicago-based unit of Crain Communications, according to David Snyder, publisher of Crain's Chicago Business. Others were Aris Georgiadis, assistant managing editor\/digital; Jeff Hartvigsen, multimedia producer; an administrative assistant and a researcher.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter 40 years at Crain and nearly that many @CrainsChicago, it's a wrap,\u201d Merrion tweeted <\/a>Friday. \u201cThe DC bureau (me) is being eliminated. Adios!\u201d<\/p>\n

The move leaves Crain\u2019s without a reporting presence in Washington for the first time since it was launched in 1978. Merrion signed on after three years with other Crain publications.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a great ride, more than 40 years with one company, starting in Chicago at Business Insurance and Pensions & Investments on the day after Gerald Ford signed the Employee Retirement Income Security Act into law,\u201d Merrion wrote in a note published by Talking Biz News.<\/a> \u201cThen to Washington in 1976, and a front-page byline in the very first issue of Crain\u2019s Chicago Business in 1978.\u201d<\/p>\n

Urging friends and colleagues that \u201ccongratulations are in order, not concern,\u201d he added: \u201cI have a long list of things I want to do, and if that really gets boring there\u2019s always working again. Either way, it\u2019s going to be a new adventure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Snyder praised Merrion as \u201can incredible asset to our organization throughout its whole history,\u201d adding: \u201cCrain\u2019s would not be Crain\u2019s without Paul Merrion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emphasizing that the personnel moves were not an indication of financial distress, Snyder said they were part of a strategy to redirect resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cCrain\u2019s is solidly profitable, and 2015 is starting off very well, including a really strong rebound in print,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are a sound, healthy, growing business. But we are also looking to expand our business in areas that we are not in now. To do that, and to make those investments \u2014 whether in acquisitions or starting new businesses \u2014 we do need additional capital. As a result we need to redeploy some assets. It\u2019s all about helping us accelerate our growth by being able to invest in new areas.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Veteran business and government reporter Paul Merrion, one of the founding staffers of Crain\u2019s Chicago Business, is out after nearly four decades as chief of the publication\u2019s Washington, D.C. bureau. Merrion, 62, was one of five employees whose positions were eliminated this week at the Chicago-based unit of Crain Communications, according to David Snyder, publisher... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6680"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6680"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6687,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6680\/revisions\/6687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}