By HOLLY LAWTON
Kansas City Star

Dave Morgan, the former No. 2 sports editor at the Los Angeles Times, raised more than a few eyebrows recently when he joined Yahoo Sports as executive editor. If this guy — a Times lifer and the heir apparent to the department's top job — could jump to the dot-com biz, does it confirm that newspapers are officially doomed?

Not at all, Morgan says. Plus, the two jobs aren't as different as they might seem.

"I'm still in the same business," he says. "It's just a different form of distribution and a much broader one. I also didn't have to leave town. Both of those are positives for me.  I think journalism is fine, it's strong and it's going to continue to be strong, it's important. I don't think my changing jobs signals anything along those lines.

"Just for me, the opportunity for growth and reach was presented as being much greater; that just appealed to me in a big way. I think there's a sense of transition going on in the print world right now, and I've been trying to facilitate growth in print for a long time, but a lot of things seemed to fit for me with this job. And it's still a lot of the same things I do, the storytelling and the presentation. It seems like a big move, but I don't feel like the world's changed that much other than my address. Print's going to be fine, and what we're doing is going to be fine."

Considering how far Morgan has come since he began answering phones for the Times' Valley edition in 1985, the decision to move on was a weighty one, but he said things moved quickly once talks began. He'll draw on his considerable journalism experience to find ways to bring Yahoo Sports into a higher public conscience and to simply do more of what they're already doing.

"Our first priority is developing plans and strategies, although, you know, I didn't join a start-up company," he says. "One of the things I'm a little uncomfortable with is any notion that Dave Morgan's over at Yahoo and now they're going to actually do something. I inherited an extremely strong and ambitious staff, and there's a lot there already.

"The plans all revolve around original content, what we do, how we do more of it. That's not just me sitting down and pushing a bunch of buttons, that's me sitting down with the team and figuring it out. I'm absorbing a lot of information and a lot of ideas from people who have been here and know how the fight works and how the medium works in an expert way that I don't have yet. I talk about the process of journalism and how best to foster that here."

Morgan has been a reliable presence at APSE judging and conventions, but despite his defection, he says we probably haven't seen the last of him. He promises to buy a round the next time we all gather in scenic Torrance.

The Anderson (S.C.) Independent-Mail: Promoted copy editor Rob Meyer to assistant sports editor.

The Daily Progress of Charlottesville, Va.: Hired Whitelaw Reid of the San Diego Union-Tribune as the beat writer for University of Virginia basketball. Hired Todd Merchant , former sports editor of the Freeport, Ill., Journal-Standard, as assistant sports editor. Hired Drew Hansen, former sports editor of the Culpeper Star Exponent, as a copy editor and designer. Hired Jim Furlong, formerly of the Durham, N.C., Herald, as community sports/recreation writer and general assignment reporter.

Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer: Hired Mike Graff to cover small colleges and recreation issues. He has won awards for sports feature writing in both Winchester, Va., and Rocky Mount, N.C.

Greenville (S.C.) News: Gannett selected Ed McGranahan, Clemson beat writer and former desk maven for the Greenville (S.C.) News, to be an Olympics on-site editor. Joel Hammond recently left the Greenville News copy desk for a job with a business publication in Cleveland.

The Progress-Index (Petersburg, Va.): Hired University of Virginia graduate David Dexter to cover Virginia State University and motorsports.

The Roanoke (Va.) Times: Named Jeff Gilbert sports editor. Gilbert has worked at the paper for more than eight years as a designer, copy editor and assistant sports editor. He has also worked as a designer for The Times in Northwest Indiana and as a writer and sports editor at the Northern Virginia Daily in Strasburg. Gilbert replaces Michael Stowe, who was named an assistant managing editor at the paper. Stowe now coordinates the daily presentation of the newspaper, including its photography, graphics, design and copy editing.

— John Medeiros
The Progress-Index (Petersburg, Va.)

No report.

Chicago Sun-Times: Hired Joe Cowley as White Sox beat writer, replacing Doug Padilla, who went to the Los Angeles Daily News. Cowley had been covering the Sox for the Daily Southtown.

Detroit Free Press: Hired Kansas City Star Sunday sports editor Kevin Bull as a sports copy editor/designer.

The News-Gazette (Champaign, Ill.): Hired Jason Randall as a sports copy editor. Randall was page-one editor at the Commercial-News in Danville and replaced Tony Mancuso, who was hired as The News-Gazette's assistant news editor for design.

The Post-Tribune (Merrillville, Ind.): The paper is looking for a lead sports section designer. This person would design the sports front and special sections and implement his or her ideas throughout the section. Interested candidates should contact sports editor Jeff Majeske at jmajeske@post-trib.com for more details.

— Brad Zimanek
Appleton (Wis.) Post-Crescent

Des Moines Register: Hired former news copy editor Dave Randall as a sports copy editor, filling the position left by Larry Lehmer's retirement.

The Kansas City Star: National baseball writer Jeff Passan is leaving to cover baseball for Yahoo Sports.

No report.

The New York Times: Hired John Branch to cover the New York Giants. Branch had been a sports columnist for the Fresno Bee. Hired Josh Penrod as a designer from the San Diego Union-Tribune, where he was a sports designer. Promoted part-timer Ben Hoffman to designer. Hired Charley Hanger for the copy desk from New York Times Digital, where he was a web producer. Hired John Woods on the copy desk from the Omaha World Herald, where he was a news editor. Hired Samantha Farlow on the copy desk from the Cleveland Plain Dealer, where she was on the sports copy desk.

— Tom Jolly
The New York Times

No report.

No report.

No report.

Fresno Bee: Hired Matt James as the sports columnist. James was an award-winning general columnist at the La Crosse (Wis.) Tribune. Hired Delton Lowery as a copy editor/page designer. He previously worked at the Redding (Calif.) Record Searchlight.

San Francisco Chronicle: Hired Kurt Aguilar, former metro copy desk chief of the San Jose Mercury news, as a copy editor.

— Robert Zizzo
Fresno Bee
and Glenn Schwarz
San Francisco Chronicle

 Back to index