Rearranging deck chairs at the Miami Herald

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Good news and bad news.

The Good: The bosses at the Miami Herald have finally decided to appoint someone to fill the long-vacant position of police reporter.

Hopefully that means the Herald will now abandon the practice of copying and pasting crime stories from CBS4's website.

And in the email below, Herald managing editor Rick Hirsch also announces that he's found someone to replace obit writer Elinor Brecher who retired last September.

The Bad: Now the Herald has to find two people to replace the positions left vacant with the new appointments.

Put another way: the game of musical deck chairs on the Titanic continues.

Some advice for those who remain at the Herald: Now might be a good time to get reacquainted with the route to your lifeboat station.

From: Hirsch, Rick
Date: Thu, Jan 2, 2014 at 2:02 PM
Subject: Yearwood to oversee Issues and Ideas, new police reporter, obituary writer
To: MIA Newsroom

Staff:

We're pleased to announce important new assignments in the newsroom that begin with the new year.

John Yearwood, our world editor, will be adding the planning and editing of the Sunday Issues and Ideas section to his portfolio. Issues is a section that rates high in all our reader surveys, and John's expertise on world and national affairs make him a natural to guide this section.

In addition, two key reporters, Chuck Rabin and Howard Cohen, will be taking on new assignments.

Chuck Rabin.

Chuck will become our new day police reporter, covering breaking crime news and enterprise on this most lively beat. It's a key job on our Continuous News Desk, and one well suited to Chuck's hustle, knowledge of Miami and ability to develop sources up and down the line.

In a Herald career that began in the old composing room while he studied journalism at the University of Miami, Chuck has covered cities and communities for Neighbors, worked as a GA, written a column (You Got A Problem?), and covered the city of Miami and Miami-Dade County.

Chuck will report to Jeff Kleinman.

Howard will become our new obits writer/GA, also reporting to Jeff and the Continuous News Desk.

Howard Cohen.

In that role, Howard will call upon his storytelling ability and the knowledge he's gained in covering a wide variety of topics and people in South Florida since joining The Herald in 1991. Over the years, Howard has covered music, health and fitness and music for Features and Neighbors.

A Miami native (Howard graduated from Christopher Columbus High and the University of Miami), Howard is an encyclopedia of Miami people, places and events. He's simply a natural for this job.

These moves create two openings on our Metro Desk that we want to fill quickly:

-- A county government reporter keenly focused on how the largest county government in the Southeast spends its money, partnering with county government/politics reporter Pati Mazzei. The reporter in this role will look hard how county government works -- from hiring to contracts -- minding the pennies and the big dollars, from salaries to expenses to pensions. If you are interested, contact me or Jay Ducassi. There is a preferred candidate.

-- A municipal reporter to cover key cities in South Dade. This job requires a reporter who can develop sources on a beat, understand budgets and how governments work, and report and write a mix of daily stories and enterprise for Neighbors, Local News and Page 1. If you are interested, contact Joan Chrissos or Scott Andron.

Please join us in congratulating Chuck, Howard and John.

Rick

Rick Hirsch
Managing Editor
The Miami Herald
3511 NW 91 Ave.
Miami, Fl., 33172
www.miamiherald.com
@rickhirsch