Martin Named Exec Editor of 'Chicago Defender'

By: E&P Staff Roland S. Martin, the syndicated columnist and former managing editor of the Houston Defender, has been named the executive editor of the Chicago Defender. Martin, 35, had been running editorial operations since May as a consultant to the nation's only daily black newspaper.

"As the Chicago Defender moves into its centennial celebration next year, we know we needed a journalist with impeccable credentials and a national stature to help us reshape the nation's most historic black newspaper. Roland certainly fits that bill," said Clarence Nixon, president and CEO of the Defender's publisher, Real Times LLC.

Martin is a columnist syndicated by Creators Syndicate, and founder of BlackAmericaToday.com. He has been managing editor of two black newspapers, the Houston Defender and Dallas Weekly. He was news editor of Savoy magazine and began his journalism career with the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman, and later worked for the Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram. A 1991 graduate of Texas A&M University, he is the author of "Speak, Brother! A Black Man's View of America."