'Philadelphia Daily News' Appoints New Publisher

By: Joe Strupp Mark J. Frisby, an executive vice president of the company that owns the Philadelphia Daily News, has been named publisher of the paper, the Daily News announced Wednesday.

Brian P. Tierney, chief executive officer of Philadelphia Media Holdings, which owns the Daily News and the Philadelphia Inquirer, revealed the appointment in a release. Frisby will keep his current title as executive vice president for operations, purchasing, and labor while assuming the new role. At the same time, Tierney will assume a newly created title -- president and chief executive officer of the Philadelphia Daily News.

"Mark is no stranger to the role of publisher. He served as publisher of the Gannett-owned Courier-Post [in Cherry Hill, N.J.] from 2001 until joining us in late 2006," Tierney said in a statement. "This new position is a testament to the strength and growth potential of the Daily News. I look forward to working with Mark and [Daily News Editor] Michael Days to accelerate the excellence of our journalism, the continued expansion of our circulation and the growth of our advertising revenue."

Frisby said, "The Daily News has almost unlimited potential and I am honored to take on this new responsibility. I, too, look forward to working with Brian and Michael Days to capture the full potential of the Daily News for the benefit of our readers and advertisers."

Frisby was appointed PMH executive vice president in November 2006. Since that time, "he has aggressively moved to resolve labor contracts, lower costs by renegotiating several major vendor contracts and continued to improve operations at our printing plant," the release stated.

He had served as president and publisher of the Courier-Post from 2001 to 2006. "In this position, he worked to improve the newspaper's products and profits to become one of the most successful suburban newspapers in the Philadelphia area," the release stated. "He also negotiated the eight contracts with the six unions at the Courier-Post."

Frisby also served as vice president/production for the Asbury Park Press in Neptune, N.J.; the Home News Tribune in East Brunswick, N.J.; and The Ocean County Observer in Toms River N.J. "While there, he played a major role in making the Asbury Park Press one of the most successful acquisitions in Gannett's history," the release stated. "Frisby was also hand picked to serve on, and later lead, a team of executives to travel across the country to larger Gannett sites to find and implement cost-saving efficiencies."