By Hayley Ringle | Phoenix Business Journal
Editor’s note: Hayley Ringle worked at The Arizona Republic as a reporter from June 2010 to January of this year.
Starbucks and McDonald’s will soon be the new offices for roughly 20 community reporters at The Arizona Republic.
Top Republic editors met with reporters from the Mesa, Scottsdale and Phoenix community sections Thursday to tell the reporters they were getting laptops. They would become “mobile reporters” without any traditional desk in an office, according to multiple reporters who wished to remain anonymous.
Because Starbucks and McDonald’s have free wi-fi, those were the two places editors suggested reporters take advantage of as they work out in the field.
Some reporters said they could work from home, but others said they were being asked not to work from home and instead be out in the field as much as possible. Reporters are being asked to take home their files, and keep them in their car or at home.
The move is expected to save money and be the next step in the Republic’s digital coverage, sources say.
Calls to Randy Lovely, The Arizona Republic’s senior vice president of news and audience development, and Christina Leonard, the Phoenix editor, were not immediately returned Thursday morning.
