Kevin Anderson: Our bold transformation continues
In January, Northwestern editor Jim Fitzhenry told you about some changes we'd be making, bold changes designed to serve our communities better. Today, we're taking the first concrete steps toward this transformation, and I wanted you know what it all meant and a little bit of why we're doing it.
Before I start talking about the changes, I want to congratulate Jim, City Editor Karl Ebert and Jeff Bollier, the man who is Streetwise Oshkosh, on their new roles. As part of this transformation across the 10 Gannett Wisconsin newspapers, Jim will soon be starting duties as our state business development content strategist and overseeing signature state-wide projects such as our State of Opportunity skills gap and workforce development project.
Karl is headed to our big sister in Green Bay, the Press-Gazette, to head up their investigative and enterprise reporting. Jeff is also heading to Green Bay to take up the role of business reporter. Well done to you all.
As Jim said, I'll be taking over as executive editor of a newly formed four newspaper group that includes the Northwestern, Action Reporter Media in Fond du Lac, the Sheboygan Press and HTR Media in Manitowoc County. I hope to name a new top editor in Oshkosh as soon as possible, but in the meantime, Jim will be helping us through the start of this transition.
I'll do a proper introduction of myself in a column later in the week, and I'm looking forward to introducing myself in person at a community forum. I'll provide details about the forum in that column.
With this transformation, we looked at all of our customers — our loyal print readers and also our digital audiences, whose view of the world is framed by Twitter, Facebook and their smartphone screens — to take a longer, more incisive view on how we needed to change.
For the past year, I've been the executive editor over the Press and the HTR, and when I announced the changes, I told our loyal readers that one of our goals was to redirect firepower from management and production so that we can maximize the staff focused on newsgathering.
We are going to do this across the four newspapers by adding to our local reporting staff with some positions that will work in Oshkosh and Fond du Lac and some managers who will work across all four newspapers.
In our remade newsroom, we will have some new faces and some names you're already familiar with.
We know that being your eyes and ears on local government so that your tax money is spent wisely is one of our most important responsibilities. Jennifer Woldt will be taking up the position of our government watchdog reporter, and I am sure that with her experience covering courts and crime, she'll also still play an important role in that coverage as well.
We also know that your children's education and their achievements ranks highly in terms of your priorities, and Nathaniel Shuda will carry on with covering our schools. He will also work to bring student voices into the paper so that our youth feel a sense of ownership in The Northwestern and also where they live and study.
Joe Sienkiewicz will continue to bring his years of experience to the role of photographer and videographer, and I appreciate how has mentored our reporters on how to engage you with great photos and video.
Noell Dickmann will be serving as our community engagement reporter. She's already established herself as an important voice for local arts and culture, and she will build on her work to make you and your interests a focal point of our coverage and also our outreach and engagement efforts.
Under Jim's leadership, The Northwestern's editors and reporters are visible members of our communities, and we will continue that in the future.
In the age of social media, I know people want more than news and information, they want a place to discuss issues and help set the direction for their community. Dan Benson will be the engagement editor for all of the Lakes newspapers, based in Sheboygan.
He will be more than your traditional opinions editor. Working as the news editor in Sheboygan for the past year, Dan has helped pioneer features such as our Community Conversations where we've had debates and discussions such as downtown redevelopment efforts in Sheboygan or the rising problem of drugs in Manitowoc. He also helped us launch Local Lens, where we highlight local voices and views on national or international issues.
Helping Dan with opinion pages and with these engagement and analysis features will be Donovan Atkinson. Donovan has been serving as Community Outreach Editor for The Northwestern in Oshkosh, and he will be working across The Reporter and The Northwestern. Donovan will be the host of our Community Conversations in Oshkosh and Fond du Lac, and I don't just mean in the paper. Dan, Donovan and I look forward to hosting these debates face-to-face.
We will also be adding a community business reporter over Oshkosh and Fond du Lac, but we're still looking for the right candidate.
The changes will be rolling out over the next month, and I am sure that you have more questions. Feel free to drop me an email or a letter, or better yet, come see me at the community forum we will be holding soon. I'd love to meet you.
You can reach Kevin Anderson at kanderson2@gannett.com or at 920-226-2181.