Matt DeRienzo, Digital First Media’s Northeast Regional Editor supervising publications in Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, and Vermont, announced Monday that he is leaving the company and joining CTNewsJunkie for the coming months as an election correspondent.
DeRienzo, 38, had been with DFM in various capacities for 11 years and has been on the front end of efforts to transition the company’s print products to digital.
According to New Haven Independent editor Paul Bass, DeRienzo said it was the right time to move on to the next stage in his career. Bass further reported on job cuts in the Register’s newsroom in New Haven and wrote that DeRienzo “reportedly approached the company about removing his position rather than further eliminating reporter positions.”
DeRienzo wrote about his time with DFM in a new item on his blog headlined, “Proud of what we made as I leave Digital First Media.”
At least for the immediate future, DeRienzo will be working with Christine Stuart and Hugh McQuaid here at CTNewsJunkie, specifically to cover the 5th Congressional District contest between Democratic U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty, Republican nominee Mark Greenberg, and independent conservative candidate John Pistone, along with other election-related news as it arises.
Meanwhile, New Haven Register Managing Editor Mark Brackenbury has been promoted to lead DFM’s newspapers in Connecticut, including its weeklies and all three of its daily newspapers here, the New Haven Register, the Register Citizen of Torrington, and the Middletown Press.
DeRienzo’s departure from DFM won’t change the company’s relationship with CTNewsJunkie — this site was contracted by DFM a few years ago provide news coverage of the legislature and state politics in general for all of DFM’s Connecticut publications. DeRienzo cited this relationship and the option to cover the 5th District as a way to help his former DFM colleagues through a busy election season.
Stuart said she is happy to be working with DeRienzo.
“An extra reporter during election season is always helpful for a small organization like ours and we’re happy to be expanding our coverage of the congressional races down the stretch,” Stuart said.