The Chapel Hill News is replacing long-time editor and publisher Ted Vaden with Brenda Larson ("business development analyst for The News & Observer's community newspapers") who will also act as the publisher of the Cary News. The loss of Vaden is bad in itself, but replacing him with someone who is not from Chapel Hill and won't be focused on Chapel Hill sounds like a disaster to me. I hope I'm wrong!
Before joining The N&O, Larson was director of new product development for York Region Newspaper Group, a group of Canadian community newspapers north of Toronto. In addition, she served as editor-in-chief for seven newspapers in that group, which is owned by Metroland.
Larson also will become publisher of The Cary News, another N&O community newspaper, and will split her time between Cary and Chapel Hill.
Anyone have more information about this? There could be a silver lining if Larson is only acting as the publisher and not the editor, but that's not clear in this article. So who will be the editor of the CHN?
Issues:
Comments
Here's the comment I made
Here's the comment I made
earlier.
I'm surprised no one has commented on Ted Vaden's moving on from the Chapel Hill News.
On one hand, I look forward to his taking on the roll of “reader advocate†for the N&O (a position they've needed for years), but I'm worried that we'll lose the local flavor he brought to the paper.
I hope that Ms. Larsen, “…publisher of The Cary News..†doesn't McClatchy the CHN. I look forward to seeing how she'll continue the local vibe and resist the temptation to merge the style and content of the CHN with other properties like the Cary News.
Mr. Vaden is going to have his work cut out for him, I think, responding to the pent up demand to make (return?) the N&O more responsive (and report more accurately and extensively) on local matters. Maybe he'll bring some sanity to the national coverage as well ;-)!
Good luck Mr. Vaden.
My understanding is that
My understanding is that Sharon Campbell will be the editor--she's currently the managing editor.
Hmmm--maybe I'll be able to
Hmmm--maybe I'll be able to go back to getting a single local newspaper--we get the N&O AND the Herald Sun--we only gethte HS because we want the Chapel Hill Herald. Time will tell!
Melanie
And a big warm welcome to
And a big warm welcome to Brenda Larson! Come on, folks, give her a chance. I'd hate to start a job with people predicting disaster, based on nothing at all, except suspicions that "she's not one of us."
That's a really good point,
That's a really good point, Ed. I don't have anything against Brenda Larson, or Sharon Campbell for that matter - in fact I don't know anything about either one! But I still don't think it's good for a small local paper to be run like it's a subsidiary of a large corporation. I would think that the News would have said so if Larson had any other relevent credentials for this job besides being a honcho in the newspaper business. What I'm looking for is not just what she may know about the community, but also whether she even cares about it.
Anyway I'm glad to see that the new editor will come from within the family. I hope she keeps it real, I don't want to have to count on the Herald for local news more than I already do.
And like I said at the top: I hope I'm wrong! Welcome to Chapel Hill, Ms. Larson.
Maybe Mr. Vaden will follow
Maybe Mr. Vaden will follow the News-Record's John Robinson's lead and start a 'blog for more direct interaction with his readership.
I'm sure he'll be able to handle "the heat in the kitchen", unlike other bloggers.
>"Hmmm–maybe
>"Hmmm–maybe I'll be able to go back to getting a single local newspaper–we get the N&O AND the Herald Sun–we only gethte HS because we want the Chapel Hill Herald. Time will tell!"
I, too, used to get both the N&O and the Herald (for the CHH), but in my opinion, the quality of the state and national coverage in the Herald-Sun improved (slightly) at about the same time the quality of the national coverage in the N&O declined (dramatically). I check the state news on the N&O web site occasionally, but other than that, I'm content just getting the Herald-Sun. And I don't find that the CH News adds much at all to Orange County coverage beyond what I get in the CHH -- not to mention being three days behind. It helps that it is now very easy to supplement national coverage from any number of web sites which offer in-depth views, unbiased by corporate ownership, that one used to be able to get from the N&O (and that one used to be able to get from NPR, but that's another topic for another day.)
Come on, Ruby!! When Fred
Come on, Ruby!! When Fred Zimmerman came here from Hong Kong to take over the CHN, he did a fine job of making the paper a lot more local than it had been under Orville Campbell.
I say that we wait and see. And maybe Ruby should become one of the local columnists. I like that feature a lot since I know many of them.
It is ironic that the only
It is ironic that the only time I needed an ombudsman ("reader advocate") in the 30 years I have been reading the News & Observer and Chapel Hill News was when Ted Vaden misrepresented NoMerger's donation disclosure by stating that NoMerger would not disclose its donor list (see http://orangepolitics.org/2004/07/a-single-shot-for-m-brown/#comment-18510 ). He later corrected some of the statement, but not all of it. Mr. Vaden ignored the publication of our donors and the mention of our disclosure in an oped, both of which occurred in the Herald-Sun several days before his editorial deadline. Furthermore, the CHN reporter NoMerger contacted claims that he told Mr. Vaden both when the list was offered and when the list was received, both prior to said deadline. At any rate, Mr. Vaden should have proactively contacted NoMerger before ASSUMING that it would not be disclosed upon request, particularly with an obviously new group. His superiors were no help, but I can only speculate that this was for liability reasons. Was there a political motive? That's my guess. Thank god for blogs.
M
Should we be concerned that
Should we be concerned that the Chapel Hill News doesn't know how many county commissioners Orange County has?
"The current system, in which all six commissioners are voted at large, ..."
http://www.chapelhillnews.com/opinion/story/2180668p-8561553c.html
M