COMMENTARY
MARK SCHUMANN
More than a week after news broke of the E.W. Scripps Company’s plans to spin off the Press Journal and its 12 other newspapers into a separate company, Press Journal publisher, Bob Brunjes, finally addressed his readers. Brunjes’ message first appeared Wednesday on Facebook, followed by a column published late Friday evening on TCPalm.com and again this morning in the Press Journal.
Filling the void created by Brunjes’ week of silence, the island weekly, Vero Beach 32963, published a front page story headlined, “Scripps says it is getting rid of Press Journal.”
In a column that sounded more like an angry response to the island weekly than it did anything else, Brunjes, wrote, “There are rumors, circulating through unscrupulous sources, of our imminent demise — and that simply is not true.”
Excerpts from Brunjes’ column include the following:
“…I have been with Scripps for almost 20 years, during which time I developed strong loyalty and immense pride working for a beacon of truth in an industry too often skewed by hidden agendas, hearsay and lies.
“…We expect to grow, not by badmouthing the competition, but by doing our very best to accurately report the news of the day and deliver it to our readers in a form that is convenient, appealing and meaningful.
“…Our challenge is to keep getting better. No gimmicks. No mudslinging. No hidden agendas, hearsay or lies.
“…That’s because we care about the entire community — not just a single ZIP code or single topic.
“…In the days ahead, you may hear outrageous stories about our company’s fate and future. Please, consider the source and the motive.”
Indian River Guardian 
Mr. Brunjes’ paper could serve this area far better if they removed themselves from the midst of controversy and reported the news, rather than driving it like a herd of cattle to the pens. Their participation in trying to unravel the structure of Vero Beach certainly has not gone unnoticed. It would be easier to overlook an alligator sunning itself in the middle of 17th Street. The beach paper and the Scripps paper have always seemed to be at odds, but maybe it is because of the separation via the Indian River Lagoon. Having read the zip code paper, I have not understood why anyone would feel the need for it. It has pretty much the same stories, slanted editorials, and who could afford and did attend all the charity events, pictures included. Of course what it doesn’t have is little about the folks on the westside of the lagoon, since we are outside the 32963 zipcode. I will say that the Scripps paper appeared to be the better of the two, but Inside Vero digs deeper and is more thorough.
http://beagardner.com/2014/08/bye-bye-russ/
I briefly touched on this two days ago on Bea-isms. We all need to keep the community in the loop about the possible demise of the Pee Pee Jay especially because of their skewed reporting. If what the 63 rag says is true about the decline in readership then surely we must believe this paper will soon disappear as a truth.
Pj should start by reporting all the news, not only the stories that favor their favorite candidates and the pro FPL sale position.. The PJ has been guilty of this for years and it is very, very obvious. Look at the PJ record, when Mark Schumann dared to report the news, he was told to change or leave. Being the person of integrety he is ,he left. No amount of disclaimers will hide these facts.
The Vero Press Journal over the last few years has put more emphasis on Stuart news to the point where it should drop the name “Vero.”
I find this online headline very telling:
“Bob Brunjes: Lighthouse may leave but light shines brighter than ever”
The wording makes me think of FPL…just sayin’
Pat, My memory may be wrong but I don’t think it’s been called the Vero PJ for years or shortly after John Schumann sold to Scripps. I think it’s the Indian River PJ. Maybe a clue of things hoped for?
Do you care about the retired press journal employees enough to tell us honestly what’s going to happen to our pensions. Your article stated you were keeping Scripps pension debt. Said nothing about press journal pension debt unless they are now combined and thought of as one.