SACRAMENTO, Calif.,
May 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --
McClatchy (NYSE American - MNI) named Kristin Roberts Vice President of News. She will
lead a newly-expanded News group that comprises the company's 30
newsrooms across 14 states, news operations and McClatchy Studios,
the company's long-form audio and video documentary production
unit.
She is the first woman to lead News in the 162-year history of
the company. In this top editorial role, Roberts will report to
President and CEO Craig Forman,
effective May 27, 2019.
"Kristin is a superb newsperson and a skilled digital
innovator," said Forman. "We are confident that her experience,
vision and ingenuity will serve the company well as we accelerate
our digital transformation."
Roberts said, "McClatchy's newsrooms are led by thoughtful and
creative journalists whose teams are delivering essential local
news and information to our readers and viewers every day. I'm
thrilled to partner with them as we experiment on new platforms and
launch ever-more ambitious projects to serve our growing
audience."
Roberts will become a member of McClatchy's executive management
team, which will be evenly composed along gender lines with her
arrival. Roberts' promotion continues a tradition of women in
leadership at McClatchy. Eleanor
McClatchy, the company's pioneering CEO from 1936 to 1978,
expanded the company into other markets and into new mediums
including radio and TV.
Roberts will helm a team of strong, accomplished and pioneering
regional editors who collaborate to ensure newsrooms deliver local
journalism that is essential to the communities they serve: In the
West region, Lauren Gustus; the
Central region, Mike Fannin; and in
the Carolinas, Robyn Tomlin.
Currently, Roberts is McClatchy's executive editor for politics
and regional editor for its eight East Coast newsrooms, including
the Miami Herald, el Nuevo Herald,
Lexington Herald-Leader and the McClatchy Washington Bureau. She
directs coverage of the U.S. government, the Trump presidency and
Congress, and leads collaboration on national projects across
multiple newsrooms. At the Washington Bureau she set a new,
ambitious strategy and built a team that consistently breaks news
with distinctive political coverage that is competitive with
national players. She also launched a new political vertical brand
across McClatchy markets focused on solutions journalism that
engages audiences in new ways and attracted new high-value sponsors
and advertisers. She is also leading a cross-market, real-time
sports initiative that will redefine how McClatchy serves audiences
who want sports coverage.
Before joining McClatchy, Roberts served as National Editor at
POLITICO, where she guided all coverage of the 2016 presidential
race to produce in-depth reporting on the candidates and their
campaigns that broke news and consistently led the field. She came
to POLITICO from National Journal, where as Managing Editor she
oversaw newsroom-wide operations. Roberts began her career at
Reuters, spending 13 years covering Wall Street and economics in
New York and Miami and moved to Washington to cover defense and foreign policy
before taking on newsroom leadership roles.
Roberts holds master's degrees from Georgetown University and Columbia University and a bachelor's degree from
The George Washington University.
In other personnel news, the company expanded the leadership
role of Scott Manuel, Vice
President, Customer and Product, adding McClatchy New Ventures
Lab and partnerships with such platform companies as Google,
Facebook, Twitter and Apple to his management portfolio. As part of
his work with these partners, he will lead the company's pioneering
collaboration with Google on The Compass Experiment for local
news.
"Adding McClatchy New Ventures Lab to Scott Manuel's Product and Customer team will
accelerate the integration of what's next in immersive storytelling
into our customers' user experience," said Forman. "In addition,
Scott's deep management experience and proficiency in technology
position him well to lead our collaborations with leading platform
companies, especially our latest project to launch three new local
news outlets with Google -- The Compass Experiment."
Manuel assumes part of the management portfolio of Andrew Pergam, Vice President of News Operations
and New Ventures. Pergam will leave McClatchy on July 5 to join Facebook in a new role. During his
five-year tenure, Pergam built McClatchy's video capability,
established McClatchy New Ventures Lab, Creative Lab and McClatchy
Studios and helped guide the company's strategic partnerships and
investments.
McClatchy operates 30 media companies in 14 states, providing
each of its communities with strong independent local journalism in
the public interest and advertising services in a wide array of
digital and print formats. McClatchy publishes iconic local brands
including the Miami Herald, The Kansas City Star, The Sacramento
Bee, The Charlotte Observer, The (Raleigh) News & Observer, and the Fort
Worth Star-Telegram. McClatchy is headquartered in Sacramento, Calif., and listed on the New York
Stock Exchange American under the symbol MNI. #ReadLocal
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SOURCE McClatchy