In newsrooms across the country, editors bear heavy responsibilities — leading the newsroom, determining what stories should be told and who is best positioned to tell them, challenging assertions, developing talent, elevating journalism — all while maintaining an unwavering commitment to the public’s interest. Their names may not always be as familiar as bylined reporters or celebrated columnists, but their insight, experience and leadership are indispensable. We hope you enjoy meeting this exemplary group of E&P’s 2022 Editors Extraordinaire.

Advertising, events, sponsorships, newsletters and paywalls are critical revenue streams for news media. Although not entirely new, philanthropy as a revenue stream is quickly becoming a welcomed funding source for both nonprofit and for-profit news operations.

The nonprofit Baltimore Banner is taking shape and preparing to launch soon. Its website will come first this summer, followed by the mobile app about three months later. The launch date hasn't been announced yet, but the pricing model for a Banner subscription will be comparable to The Baltimore Sun. And it will draw revenues from three sources: philanthropy, subscriptions and limited advertising.

Ben August is a serial entrepreneur whose experiences led him to take on the mantle of labor injustice and buy The Chief, a weekly newspaper serving as “A Voice for Workers.” He launched a redesign of the New York City-based publication about six months into his role as its owner and publisher.

The Post is making a significant investment in telling the story of America in this precarious moment when democracy itself seems under assault. The Democracy Team will utilize state-based reporters to collaborate with national journalists to cover elections, voting rights and other facets of American democracy

Propaganda abounds, and now it’s easier than ever to create and digitally distribute propaganda, like deep-fake videos — or “deepfakes,” as they’re sometimes called. E&P reached out to Facebook and Twitter to learn how big of a problem deepfakes are on their platforms and what they’re doing to detect them and squash them when they’re used as propaganda, disinformation or to harass.

When Luanne Rife, a longtime journalist with The Roanoke Times, left the paper in early 2021, a nonprofit interested in supporting quality journalism approached to ask her opinion about the viability of an online-only news outlet. This led to a $100,000 grant. The grant and a matching amount were the seed money to develop The Cardinal News, which launched in September 2021.

Attacks on media companies are escalating. It’s hard to pinpoint whether cybercriminals strategically target media companies or whether the criminal net is just so widespread that it ensnares news outlets almost incidentally. But news businesses around the world have found themselves on the receiving end of hacks, breaches and ransomware demands, perhaps the most insidious of them all.

One-time Pulitzer Prize finalist David Fitzsimmons has been drawing six cartoons a week about his sun-soaked corner of the country for the Arizona Daily Star since 1986. Avoiding the fate of many of his contemporaries, Fitzsimmons has managed to remain a vital part of his newspaper and the community for the past 35 years and only recently decided at the age of 66 to begin to slow things down and go part-time.

Gen Z is connected, digitally savvy and concerned about social and policy issues, but what does this generation desire or demand from a news provider? What steers them to a news source? What inspires them to pay for news content? What does it take to earn their trust?

The Seattle Times was the first to launch an education lab in 2013. Since then, The Fresno (California) Bee, The Dallas Morning News, AL.com and The Post and Courier (Charleston, South Carolina) have all created their own labs, many of them modeled after the Times’.

The Associated Press, The Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting, and The Maynard Institute for Journalism Education have announced plans to work together to improve diversity in newsrooms and news reports through journalistic and leadership training and more inclusive storytelling.

Ogden Newspapers, through its partnership with Journal Gazette Co. in the Fort Wayne Newspapers company, has entered into an agreement to purchase KPC Media, according to Randy Cope, Cribb, Cope & Potts, who represents the Witwer family, owner of KPC Media.

States Newsroom now features coverage from 35 states on News from the States.

The E.W. Scripps Company and Google are partnering on a multi-year initiative to transition experienced journalists with primarily print news backgrounds into broadcast news careers. Google has made a financial commitment to Scripps to underwrite the newly created Scripps Journalism Journey Initiative.

On Tuesday morning, hours after Musk tweeted that "this deal cannot move forward" until his purported spam bot concerns are cleared up, the company filed its proxy statement for Musk's takeover and said it wants to close the deal "as promptly as practicable."

The Russian minister overseeing digital communications says the government has no plans to block the video sharing platform YouTube despite threats to do so over parent company Alphabet Inc's failure to delete content Moscow has deemed illegal.

"We are in an era of extreme creativity. We need to match that in news," writes BBC's Ros Atkins in this piece adapted from a recent speech.

Price remains the biggest issue and turns out Netflix and Spotify are seen as benchmarks by younger audiences.

It requires more than a solid strategy and good pitch deck. Publishers need to think about capacity and a new ethos.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk promised that taking over Twitter would enable him to rid the social media platform of its annoying “spam bots.” Now he’s arguing — without presenting any evidence — that there might be just too many of those automated accounts for the $44 billion deal to move ahead.

The 12-year-old news organization learned that "sometimes you can get more just by asking."

A new program to check out subscriptions for Williams-Grand Canyon News in Arizona is now being offered at Tusayan Town Hall through the Tusayan Library.

The veteran broadcast journalist also eyes mentorships and a possible pipeline for journalists of color early in their careers.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk says his deal to buy Twitter can’t move forward unless the company shows public proof that less than 5% of the accounts on the social media platform are fake or spam.

Michigan newspapers need to post notices of public meetings or other similar announcements online in a manner that is free for everyone, according to a pair of bills Gov. Gretchen Whitmer recently signed into law.

Advertiser retention, digital subscriptions, & getting that "yes" your sales team is looking for...all of this (& more) during this FREE May 13th, virtual conference. Make sure to register now for "The Intersection," hosted by Broadstreet Ads at 1pm on Friday May 13th!

The Argus-Press in Owosso, Michigan, replaced its local workflow with the cloud-based ProImage NewsWayX production workflow to enjoy the cloud-based solution's speed and flexibility.

Families often lived in multiple places, posing an challenge when placing obituaries. So AdPortal Obituaries from iPublish Media Solutions now allows funeral homes and soon private parties to publish an obituary to any additional newspaper in the Memoriams network, including 3300 plus newspapers, without double entry.

Doorfront Direct, the nation’s largest magazine and catalog delivery network, announced this week that Lee Enterprises, the leading provider of news and information in 77 U.S. markets, has launched weekly magazine delivery in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with plans for other markets under way.

Help us recognize the heart and soul of our industry, the leaders who help us produce quality products each day while keeping an eye on our bottom lines! Nominate a colleague today so we can salute them and share their ideas to the global news publishing industry, in our 2022 class of "Operations All-Stars!" Don't wait because we'll be featuring "All-Stars" each month!

Formed 40 years ago, the PAGE Cooperative has served generations of newspaper leadership and is noting a rising interest in new membership. PAGE bands members together with a common objective of controlling costs but with additional benefits of best practices, advisory and intervention during shortages.

Stacker’s newsroom tackles data-rich topics to produce and distribute stories to their news network, built on a partnership model similar to how local news organizations work with AP and Reuters for wire content. They invest dozens of hours in data projects so that they can be shared as stories and data assets for journalists and Stacker partners, allowing newsrooms of all sizes to tap into data reporting for their area.

A recent Editor & Publisher sponsored webinar explored four demographic shifts that will impact the obituary market, and covered recommendations of what newspapers can do to secure the future for their most important local content.

Matt Zapotosky will become a criminal justice editor on the Metro desk.

Marian Chia-Ming Liu will become a projects editor focused on new initiatives, which includes Lede Lab, The Washington Post’s storytelling R&D team, and other strategic initiatives.

Annie Linskey is taking on a new role at The Washington Post — as a national political reporter and will be one of the paper's lead reporters on the campaign team.

Vanessa Williams will become a deputy National politics editor, steering coverage of voters and a changing American electorate for The Washington Post.

Hasit Shah has joined the London Home Team as a senior staff editor.

Randy Pennell brings years of experience covering breaking news on a wide range of topics, from pandemic relief efforts to the arrest and trial of Jerry Sandusky, to the Live team as a senior editor.

Amanda Kludt, group publisher of Eater, Popsugar, Punch, and Thrillist and Eater’s founding editor-in-chief, has announced that Stephanie Wu will be Eater’s new editor-in-chief. Eater’s GM + VP, Jill Dehnert, and its VP of Development Britt Aboutaleb, will also now work across the portfolio of lifestyle publications.

Jenna Johnson will be The Washington Post's deputy democracy editor, helping to lead a new team focused on threats to the electoral process and battles over the right to vote.

Matt Clough is joining The Washington Post as an SEO and operations editor. In this role, he will create strategies to expand audiences through search, partner with reporting teams around the newsroom to amplify the paper's best work, and help expand the newsroom’s understanding of SEO, recirculation and digital best practices.

Rockell Brown Burton, an experienced academic leader and accomplished researcher with a passion for cultivating impactful, mutually beneficial relationships, has been named associate dean of inclusivity, diversity, equity and accessibility at the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

On Thursday, May 12, Morley Piper passed away at 97 years young.

Ron Martin, a former longtime editor of the Atlanta Journal and Atlanta Constitution who oversaw the merger of those newspapers after he edited USA Today, died Saturday, May 14, according to his family.

Richard Wald, a longtime journalist who helped build ABC News into a powerhouse following a career in newspapers, has died. He was 92.

Dustin Barnes, a Mississippi-raised journalist who became a USA TODAY trending editor known for his professional acumen and irrepressible joy, was found dead Wednesday, May 11, at his home in Nashville, Tennessee. He was 38.

Veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot and killed while covering an Israeli military raid in the occupied West Bank town of Jenin early Wednesday.