The best part of being The Columbian’s editor is getting to work with so many interesting, intelligent and dedicated people. Foremost among this group is our team of editors. Their names appear in print daily in the box on the bottom of Page A2, and you will also see their bylines and credit lines. We are a small, hands-on organization, and editors are expected to contribute their share of content to our online and print editions.
I thought I would take the space to talk a little about these editors and describe briefly what each does.
• Mark Bowder is our metro editor. Mark has the toughest job in the newsroom. I know, because I had that job for 14 years. It’s his duty to manage the bulk of the reporting staff, make story assignments, edit their copy, and decide what local content will be pitched for the front page and what will appear on the metro cover. The job involves a lot of coordination with the other editors to make sure photos are shot, graphics are prepared and that the whole news report will fit into any given edition. He is assisted by Jessica Prokop, who oversees or personally writes most of the police, fire and courts news, and Will Campbell, who leads our business reporting.
• Merridee Hanson is the news editor. Her title often confuses people, who assume she is the person to talk with about getting a Columbian reporter to write a story. She actually oversees the members of our copy desk, who edit the stories, select the wire copy, write the headlines, tend the web and design the print pages and graphics. It is a huge and important job, so she has two assistant editors. Colleen Keller is our main “wire” editor, choosing copy from Associated Press and our other news services to be placed on various news and features pages. When Greg Jayne goes on vacation, Colleen writes great editorials. Amy Libby is our web editor, overseeing columbian.com, including posting a lot of stories on weekdays, helping with breaking news and producing our email newsletters.
