By: Joe Strupp Sacramento Bee Editor Melanie Sill, who took over the top post less than three months ago, said in a Sunday column she expects to "lead significant change" at the paper that appears to mean a smaller print product and expanded Web.
Sill, former editor of The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., replaced longtime editor Rick Rodriguez on Oct. 30. Since her takeover, speculation has surfaced about the reasons for the change, with some internal sources hinting that a push for more Web involvement was among the reasons.
Sill's column offered few specifics for the paper's future. But she did state, "Our ambition isn't change for its own sake, but improvement. The world outside our windows has been transformed by a technology revolution: The Internet, cell phones and other communication vehicles have linked people in ways almost unimagined 20 years ago."
She added later in the piece, "Here in 2008, we will improve and expand news, information, opinion and entertainment on our Web site, sacbee.com, which is moving forward rapidly already."
Sill then hinted at a diminished print size, noting, "As we raise our ambition for online work, we'll also be working to build a printed newspaper that makes sense for the way people live in 2008. That newspaper will be slimmer than the big editions of the 1980s and '90s, our industry's boom era, and our choices will focus on delivering quality rather than volume."
As for her qualifications, Sill listed her background and experience, with the promise that she is in for the long haul. "I'm not a job-hopper," she wrote. "I stayed at the Raleigh paper for 25 years because I found the work more rewarding as I got to know the people and organizations we covered."
The entire column can be found at: http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/628385.html
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