Gannett Installs Christine Chin as Publisher
Fort Collins Coloradoan publisher Dorothy Bland and executive editor Michael Limon abruptly resigned Wednesday, the newspaper reported today.
Christine Chin, former president and publisher of the Bellingham Herald in Washington, is replacing Bland, the paper announced in a story on its Web site later today.
She lost that position when Gannett sold the Bellingham paper to Knight Ridder in a transaction involving several newspapers in August.
“Bland had been publisher of the newspaper for 11 years, and Limon had led the 39-employee newsroom for the past three years. Their resignations were effective immediately,” according to the morning story by Kirsten Orsini-Meinhard.
“City editor Pat Ferrier has been named interim executive editor during the search to fill that position.
“Virginia-based Gannett Co. Inc. — the company that owns the Coloradoan — declined to release any details.
” . . . When reached for comment Wednesday, Limon said he also could not speak about the reason for his departure.
” . . . Bland, who also could not discuss her departure, has worked for the past several years on getting a new $6.7 million building for the newspaper.”
Bland is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists; Limon a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. Bland is additionally a 1982 graduate of the Maynard Institute’s Editing Program for Minority Journalists and a 1986 graduate of its Management Training Center.
“Bland and Limon’s names had been stripped from The Coloradoan’s Web site as of mid-Wednesday, and hours later a brief announcement had been posted,” Brandon Lowrey reported in the Rocky Mountain Collegian.
“Bland had worked in various positions for several publications, including USA Today. She was publisher for the Coloradoan for 11 years and has won several awards from Gannett. Limon has been executive editor for the past three years.
“Under Bland, the Coloradoan recently moved its operation into a new building, adjacent to the old one, with additional amenities for its more than 200 employees. It continues to print its own paper and several others, including the Collegian, in the old building.”
The 2001 announcement of Chin’s appointment in Bellingham said, “Chin joined Gannett in 1993 as market development director at The Desert Sun in Palm Springs, Calif. In 1999, she moved to Reno. She previously had held management positions at the Long Beach (Calif.) Press Telegram and at Knight Ridder. She holds degrees from UCLA and Harvard University.”
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Caesar Andrews Named Detroit Free Press Editor
Caesar Andrews, editor of Gannett News Service, today was named executive editor of the Detroit Free Press, the Gannett Co. announced today.
Mark Silverman will become editor of the news service, based at Gannett headquarters in McLean, Va., replacing Andrews, the announcement said. Silverman was publisher and editor of the Detroit News, recently sold by Gannett.
[Added Sept. 9: “Detroit is a generous place when it comes to news, and now is a great time to join the new Free Press leadership,” Andrews told Journal-isms.
[“Like editors everywhere, I want to figure out more and better ways of making news coverage relevant to readers. I don’t know enough about the community yet to talk specifics. But I know we have to come up with imaginative answers to some tough questions. How do we become so essential that current readers never even think about not being regular readers? How do we connect with the vastly different groups of people who don’t pick up our newspapers? I’m looking forward to working with others in Detroit on the answers.”]
Andrews, 46, a reporter and editor for 26 years, is a former president of the Associated Press Managing Editors as well as a 1979 graduate of historically black Grambling State University, where he edited the student paper, the Gramblinite. He is also a 1985 graduate of the Maynard Institute’s Management Training Center.
“Caesar . . . has served as one of the leaders of our profession, respected across the country for his service to journalism and journalists,” Free Press Publisher Paul E. Anger said in an e-mail to the staff this morning.
“Caesar has had a far-reaching career. He started as a municipal reporter for FLORIDA TODAY in Cocoa, Fla., and was on the staff of USA TODAY when it launched in 1982. He worked as states editor, assistant national editor and deputy managing editor. Before becoming editor at GNS in 1997, Caesar was managing editor of FLORIDA TODAY and executive editor at both The Reporter in Lansdale, Pa., and The Rockland Journal News in New York. He was also senior managing editor at the Gannett suburban newspapers covering Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties.
“Among many national leadership roles, he?s been president of the Associated Press Managing Editors and is on the board of directors for the National Press Foundation and the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
“But here?s the bottom line: Caesar is a wonderful editor, and I?m elated that he?s joining us.”
In August, Knight Ridder, Gannett Co. and Dean Singleton’s MediaNews Group announced that Knight Ridder’s Free Press would be sold to Gannett and the Detroit News, owned by Gannett, would become property of the MediaNews Group, which owns the Denver Post.
It was learned then that Bennie Ivory, executive editor of Gannett’s Courier-Journal in Louisville, Ky., was offered the editor’s job at the Detroit Free Press, but turned it down, saying he had grown to like Louisville after eight years there.
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