The Winston-Salem Journal announced that they’re laying off five people, including two from the news division, and that they’re folding the daily Business section into the Local section with the exception of Sunday.  They’re also combining the Living and Arts sections in the Sunday paper.

Folding the business section into the Local section is not a surprising development given that recently the biz section has often been a mere four pages and that on at least one occasion I noticed every article was a wire service piece.  I’m not sure if the dearth of local business stories is a result of a severely depressed local business climate, not enough business reporters at the paper or a bit of both, but it’s sure a downer for the local business scene. Of course it’s terrible that five people lost their jobs, but for
Winston-Salem and the surrounding area it’s really bad news that
there’s not enough going on around here to support a full business section.

As Ed Cone wrote: "Good news for the Business Journal, maybe, but bad news for just about everyone else."