For the first time in two decades, the daily New Haven Register will have a dedicated investigative-reporting beat.
The paper’s editor, Matt DeRienzo, announced Monday that the paper is moving reporter Michelle Tuccitto Sullo from her beat in the Naugatuck Valley to fill a newly formed full-time investigative position (just in time for the mayhem about to break loose in East Haven). She’ll join veteran reporter Mary O’Leary (at the company since 1970, beginning at the old Journal Courier) to form an “Investigative and In-Depth Reporting Team.” O’Leary will concentrate in part on “fact-checking” politicians and drilling deep into issues.
DeRienzo also created a “Breaking News Team” and an “Audience Engagement Team.” He filled the slots with existing reporters, part of a reorganization geared toward moving the Register from a “print-first” to a “digital-first” newsroom. Click here, here, and here to read some previous stories about the Register’s corporate evolution.
And click here to read the press release the Register issued Monday to announce the changes.
The Register’s parent company, Journal Register, is undertaking similar experiments at its papers across the country in the hopes of developing a successful model for for-profit local daily journalism in the Internet age. Click here for a recent New York Times article about that.
Meanwhile, the Register also instituted a new policy on Monday on reviewing reader comments before posting them. In this announcement, the company said it hopes to “keep the racist, sexist, vulgar or otherwise abusive posts from seeing the light of day on this website.” Click here for a previous Independent story on that subject; click here to read the Independent’s commenting guidelines.