McClatchy Foreign Editor Seibel To Become New Online Editor

By: Joe Strupp McClatchy Newspapers foreign editor Mark Seibel will take on a new position as managing editor/online, according to an internal memo sent to staffers today.

His replacement will be Roy Gutman, an editor in the Washington, D.C., bureau.

The memo from Washington Editor David Westphal and Bureau Chief John Walcott is posted below:

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From: Westphal, David
Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008
To: Wash Buro Everyone
Subject: Bureau web realignment

We're pleased to announce that Mark Seibel will take on a new position -- managing editor/online -- in the McClatchy Washington Bureau. Mark will be responsible for developing our Web site, juicing up staff training, creating new channels for our digital report, strengthening ties with our newspapers' Web teams, marketing our work and, of course, much more.

He's done an outstanding job as the bureau's managing editor/international, but now we need him to put his shoulder to the wheel in this critical arena. Mark will team up with Jim Van Nostrand and Tish Wells, but will engage the entire room in accelerating the pace of our digital change.

Roy Gutman will succeed Mark in overseeing our foreign coverage. As foreign editor, he'll be responsible for our overall report and will serve as line editor for Leila Fadel, Hannah Allam, Dion Nissenbaum and Tom Lasseter. Stateside, he'll also work with Jonathan Landay, Warren Strobel and Nancy Youssef. Jim Asher will be giving him a hand with the foreign-bureau staff, serving as line editor for Tim Johnson, Shashank Bengali and Jack Chang.

These changes are effective immediately, but they'll develop steam in about two weeks -- as soon as Roy completes the primary editing work on a bureau project.

We're excited about these changes. The Web gives us a marvelous opportunity to expand the McClatchy Washington Bureau's franchise. Heading into 2008, this will provide a big head of steam in making that happen.

-- David and John