Bulldog ReporterBulldog Reporter, founded in 1979 and which has covered PR and the media for the Infocom Group since 1986, has ceased operations, it was announced by Jim Sinkinson, publisher.

He said that many of the website’s key products and services have declined in profitability and it is winding down its relationships with clients and vendors.

Legal assistance has been retained to assess options in bringing the business to a close.

Some of the 11 members on the masthead of the publication are in the job market.

Among those listed are Jacques Gautreaux, director of marketing and human resources; Brian Pittman, VP/associate publisher; Richard Carufel, managing editor of Bulldog Reporter’s Daily Dog, which was closed several weeks ago; Patrick Thompson, sales manager; Max Celaya, Evelyn Tabo and Justine Tenzeldam, inside sales consultants; Cindy Levitas, art director; Julia Sewell, web producer, and Evan Raymond, developer.

“While this decision is a bit sad, it is also tinged with great pride,” said Sinkinson. “The Bulldog Reporter team served this dynamic industry for 35 exciting years, providing decades of actionable information that encouraged higher standards of performance and superior results.

Inquiries can be made to Sinkinson at 124 Linden st., Oakland, CA 94607.

PR Trade Press Has Shrunk

The PR trade press has been shrinking for many years even as PR jobs have grown from 166,630 in 2004 to 202,530 in 2013, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor. Jobs in journalism dipped from 52,550 to 43,630.

PR Week/U.S. went monthly in June 2010 and its sister publication in the U.K. went monthly last year.

PR Society of America is gradually converting print runs on its two publications to online-only. New members, numbering about 5,500 yearly, no longer get the print versions. Print circulation of the monthly Tactics was 32,000 while Strategist’s circulation was 22,000.

PR Reporter, a weekly newsletter published since 1958, was purchased by Ragan Communications in 2002 and changed to a monthly. It was folded later that year.

The Ragan Report, previously a weekly NL, went online only in 2008. Ragan now does joint projects with PR Society of America.

PR Quarterly was published for 52 years until 2009. The final 48-page issue in June 2009 had two ads, a page for John Budd’s Too Many Geese; Too Few Swans and a quarter page for the Copyright Clearance Center. For many years North American Precis Syndicate was the only steady advertiser.

PRQ was a popular outlet for articles by PR professors, the last issue having five such articles. PRQ was the second most copied publication after O’Dwyer publications in the infopack service of PRSA that was operated from 1978-1994. An O’Dwyer expose ended the practice of the Society selling authors’ works without their permission.

Reputation Management magazine, a monthly published for most of the 1990s by Paul Holmes, folded after the arrival of PR Week/U.S. in 1998.

PR News of Access Intelligence, the oldest PR trade publication, published since 1944, has focused on social media coverage in recent years. It has a variety of services including operating conferences and conducting award programs. A one-year subscription for 48 issues is $1,049.

A recent successful addition to the PR/communications news space is CommPRO.biz, headed by Fay Shapiro, who has a 30-year background in publishing, media database management and reporting.

The website, founded four years ago this month and which draws 37,000 unique visitors monthly, covers all forms of communication including PR, advertising, promotion, internal communications, social media and marketing. Shapiro's background includes five years with Infocom Group as publisher. She also had posts at BurrellesLuce and Bacon's.

Commpro.biz promotes content and capabilities to 60,000+ corporate communications, PR and marketing professionals. It helps to create custom content. Services include assisting with content sharing, brand marketing and lead generation.