'USA Today' Editor Expected to Be Named Soon

By: Joe Strupp Speculation continued to mount Monday about the identity of the next USA Today editor, with hints that the new newsroom leader could be named as soon as today or tomorrow. Gannett Co. Inc. officials may be eager to put the resignation of former editor Karen Jurgensen behind them and focus attention on improving the paper's crippled image.

"We expect to name someone early this week," said Steve Anderson, USA Today (Click for QuikCap) spokesman. "That is all the information I have."

But rumors among those inside and out of the McLean, Va.-based newspaper have the short list of candidates down to four -- Mark Silverman, editor and publisher of The Detroit News; Bennie Ivory, executive editor of The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Ky.; Ward Bushee, editor of The Arizona Republic in Phoenix; and Susan Goldberg, executive editor of the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News. All except Goldberg are current Gannett employees.

USA Today Publisher Craig Moon, who could not be reached for comment Monday, said last week he had interviewed four candidates, all of them current Gannett employees, for the top editor post, but none from inside USA Today. He declined at that time to name any, but said he had not completed his interviews.

Ivory did not return calls seeking comment Monday, while Bushee and Silverman could not be reached for comment because, according to their offices, both were out of town. Bushee's office added that he was at Gannett's corporate headquarters, but would not say why.

Jurgensen resigned from the editor's post she had held since 1999 last Tuesday, just two days before a scathing report on the ethical lapses of former reporter Jack Kelley came out. The 28-page report blamed some of Kelley's misdeeds on institutional problems at the paper, including those involving lax editor oversight.

Managing Editor Hal Ritter also resigned late Thursday, while Executive Editor Brian Gallagher indicated he would likely not remain in his current position at the paper for long.

When asked whether USA Today expected to take any legal action against Kelley based on his actions -- which reportedly included falsifying reports for expense reimbursements -- Anderson said only, "I don't know how likely that is."