Courtney Rukan named The Washington Post’s multiplatform editing chief

Announcement from Executive Editor Sally Buzbee and Managing Editors Kat Downs Mulder, Cameron Barr, Tracy Grant and Krissah Thompson:

We are thrilled to announce that Courtney Rukan will become our multiplatform editing chief.

Courtney will lead a team of more than 65 copy editors who are responsible for all newsroom content except the Magazine and Sports, as well as the News Service. Over the past 12 years, the Multiplatform Desk has been a backbone of our digital revolution, evolving from a print-centric desk to a digitally focused operation that works across every platform and format where The Post publishes, including web, apps, newsletters, social, audio, video, graphics and print. Courtney enters this job as our ambitions continue to expand across the globe, with copy editors being posted in overseas hubs that will facilitate 24/7 coverage for the first time.

In this role, Courtney will work in concert with other senior editors to ensure that everything The Post publishes meets its high standards for accuracy, fairness and clarity of expression. She will continue to focus on refining our production process, working all over the newsroom to explore ways we can streamline how we deliver our journalism to readers with a focus on real-time publishing.

Since the merger of our digital and print newsrooms, the copy desk has been a leader in workflow innovation. Courtney has been with the desk from Day One, working to facilitate this transformation in a manner that has allowed The Post to do what so many other news organizations have not been able to: build a stronger copy desk for the future over time. As this change has taken hold, dozens of copy editors have filled in as assignment editors or transitioned to other departments as the desk has continued to play a major part in ensuring the quality of our daily journalism.

Beyond the copy desk, Courtney is known for being an approachable manager who finds joy in meeting a lot of new employees sent her way when they have esoteric questions. (She also might just have a glasses repair kit in her desk if you have a screw loose.)

A summer intern in 1999, Courtney returned to the newsroom after graduating from James Madison University with a B.S. in media arts and design in 2000. She worked on the Sports copy desk for four years and, in 2004, became Sports copy chief, guiding the desk through five NFL seasons, three Olympic Games, a World Cup, George Mason’s run to the Final Four, the Nationals’ arrival in Washington and the opening of Nats Park. After nearly a decade in Sports, Courtney spent a year on the Style copy desk before being named deputy multiplatform editing chief in 2010. Although highly concerned with the more refined aspects of copy editing and an advocate for clear headlines that match the tone of the platform they appear on, sometimes she just can’t help herself when it comes to punning around in display type. Her favorite headline remains a tight one-column count into which she squeezed two puns: “Word on the tweet: A born identity / @CIA can ‘neither confirm nor deny its first post on Twitter.’ ”

Courtney grew up in Falls Church and has been a devoted Post reader for 35 years, which didn’t sit well with her high school trigonometry teacher who once told her that reading The Post Sports section in his class was never going to get her anywhere in life. She lives in Bowie with her husband, Chris, who is the Opinions design director. When they’re not working, Courtney and Chris enjoy barbecuing, baseball, live concerts and fast cars.

Please join us in congratulating Courtney on her promotion.