OC Register introduces new business section

For the first time in four years, It's a daily standalone section (not tucked inside something else) and that's quite a break from the drastic cutbacks in other business departments around the country. The expansion is the work of Aaron Kushner, the new owner and publisher, who believes - somewhat improbably - that the Register's future is more in print than online. From the Register:

In January 2008, the paper moved business news into the back of the main news section as part of an effort to cut costs. A year later, the paper restored a separate business section Thursday through Saturday, with real estate on Sunday, but business news remained in the main news section Monday through Wednesday. Starting Monday, the paper will begin to offer expanded business coverage with each day focused on a different theme. There also will be more news about Orange County companies and local business people as well as national and international reports supplemented by the New York Times and Bloomberg wire services. The stock chart of Orange County companies will return. And there will be more color.

Goodness knows, I wish them the best. But the changes all sound very .... well, 1985-ish (themes days, local stock charts, bigger staffs, etc.). A print-dominated news organization is simply not going to work very well in these digital-dominated times. Readers are not looking at business sections the way they did 25 years ago - frankly, I suspect not many are looking at them at all.