Shakeup in Detroit

E&P confirms the mega-swap at the Detroit newspapers, with Kight Ridder giving up the Free Press to Gannett, Gannett giving up the Detroit news to MediaNews Group.

Gannett also gets the Tallahassee Democrat in Florida, and K-R gets the Idaho Statesman in Boise and The Olympian and the Bellingham Herald in Washington state.

This has got to be a mind-bending event for those at the Freep and Tallahassee. I don't know the people or the papers out in the West as well, so I don't know how the change will be received there.

My prediction: Late-summer showers of resume postings from Detroit and Tallahassee.

Most interesting is that with a 4 p.m. scheduled staff meeting, it wasn't unti 4:45 p.m. that the Freep updated its Web site, and still nothing on the News. The first thing they teach you in famous PR school is to control your own publicity. Can't do that if you're sitting there blank while others spread the word.