The story about newspapers struggling isn’t a new one. The Seattle Times is the latest to announce additional layoffs.

But for many big city papers, the sports section has been a high priority — both in the hard copy and online. The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, though, are in the midst of dramatic shifts, as two of its higher-profile writers — columnist Paola Boivin and Phoenix Suns beat writer Paul Coro — are on the way out.

Both had been with the paper for a couple of decades. Boivin is moving to the faculty of ASU’s Cronkite School, while Coro … well, we don’t actually know. While the Republic praised Boivin, no mention was made of Coro. He simply told Ray Stern of Phoenix New Times that he was looking at new opportunities and intends to stay in Phoenix.

To talk about changes in sports journalism — and where the Republic changes fit — we spoke with Ed Sherman, who has covered sports media for The Chicago Tribune and Poynter.