By: Joe Strupp News & Observer Publisher Orage Quarles, who is losing Editor Melanie Sill to The Sacramento Bee, credits her early embrace of the Internet for helping her win the job.
?There are a lot of folks who are slow to embrace the Internet, she is not,? Quarles told E&P Wednesday, a day after announcing Sill would take the Bee job, replacing departed editor Rick Rodriguez. ?I honestly don?t know, but I think they are looking for strong leadership, someone who has a journalistic pedigree and who understands the Internet.?
Quarles, who appointed Sill editor five years ago, says she was instrumental in turning the paper into a true multimedia, 24-hour newsroom. ?Getting the newsroom to understand the role of print and online,? he adds.
The publisher also pointed to the paper?s re-launch of its entertainment portal, www.triangle.com, which he says Sill helped improve with more expanded information and reader uses. It will re-launch on Thursday. ?She was heavily involved in it,? he says.
Sill will be replaced by Managing Editor John Drescher.
She could not be reached for comment Wednesday morning, a day after she first met with Bee staffers. In a story in today?s Bee, she was quoted as saying that paper needed to combine "the revolutionary power of the Internet and the enduring power of the newspaper."
Sill?s appointment comes two weeks after Rodriguez abruptly resigned the Bee in what the paper would only describe as a difference of opinion over its direction.
Neither Sill nor Bee Publisher Janice Heaphy commented specifically on Rodriguez in today?s Bee story, but both hinted that the paper needed to change. "If you're in a newsroom and the editor doesn't say that change is needed, you should leave," Sill stated. "The times we're in really demand change."
Heaphy was quoted as saying the paper needs "the kind of leadership that involves risk-taking,? then added that Sill would create a newsroom "truly capable of innovation and truly capable of risk-taking."
Quarles said Heaphy first contacted him last week about taking Sill. "Things started in motion,? Quarles said. ?The publisher and I talked, she knew Melanie was a star and it was her choice. She contacted me. I didn?t know the situation there, but we knew [Sill] was talented and I am sure right at the top of their list.?
He pointed out that Sill becomes the latest in a string of former News & Observer editors who have gone on to run bigger papers in recent years. Those include Anders Gyllenhaal, now at The Miami Herald, and Nancy Barnes, editor of the Star-Tribune in Minneapolis.
?This is a paper that has a great tradition and a lot of really talented people,? he said. ?They make me look good.? When asked how Drescher might change the newsroom?s approach, Quarles said only ?John is his own person, we will have to wait and watch. But he has already led the effort to redesign the newsroom, he has a great vision.?
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