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Monday, April 16, 2012

Young, rural journalists make Editor & Publisher's list of '25 under 35' with promise in newspaper business

Editor & Publisher magazine has named its 2012 edition of "25 under 35," a collection of promising newspaper professionals.

The most rural journalists in the group are Kristen Swing, 31, executive editor of the Jonesborough Herald & Tribune in upper East Tennessee, and Derek Sawvell, 29, managing editor of the Wilton-Durant Advocate News of Wilton, Iowa, which has a Facebook page but no website. It serves rural communities in northern Muscatine and southern Cedar counties between Davenport and Iowa City.

"Although Advocate News publisher Bill Tubbs has mentored many journalists who went on to distinguished careers (including a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner), he said none have held a candle at their young ages to what Sawvell has accomplished in his two years at the Advocate News," Kristina Ackermann and Nu Yang write.

“He is, by every measurement, the complete package as an editor, a news reporter, a columnist, a photographer, a business manager, and an ambassador for his community and employer,” Tubbs told the magazine. “He stands out from his peers in every way and represents the future of community
journalism.”

Herald & Tribune Publisher Lynn Richardson said of Swing, “It is rare to see such excellence at a small weekly newspaper.” E & P says Swing has redesigned the paper, changed its content and focus, and won several state press awards. She told the magazine, “Don’t ever assume the size of your publication is in direct proportion to the impact it can have. If you make sure every story you write, every page you design connects with people, it is amazing how far-reaching you become.”

Tim Schmidt, 32, editor of the Warren County Record of Warrenton, Mo., a St. Louis suburb, also made the list. He started out as sports editor, and since he became editor, "circulation has grown from 2,600 to 5,448," E & P reports. Circulation is a top concern of Jason Cross, 33, group publisher for News Media Corp. in Watsonville, Calif. He runs the Register-Pajaronian, a thrice-weekly paper; the Paso Robles Press and the Atascadero News, twice-weeklies, and four weeklies as well as some specialty publications.

The 25 were picked "as much for their resumes as for their extracurriculars," the magazine says. "While multimedia skills are now a requirement in the newsroom, these young leaders stand out as role models, leaders, volunteers, philanthropists, and passionate human beings. Their contributions to their companies and communities have won awards, sparked policy change, increased revenue and pageviews, and reinforced the role of the newspaper as a watchdog and community ambassador."

Other rural newspapers represented in the list were the Steamboat Pilot and Today of Steamboat Springs, Colo. (Advertising Director Meg Boyer, 30); the Sun Journal in Lewiston, Me. (Sun Media Group Media Director Anthony Ronzio, 32) and the Hoosier Times of Bloomington, Ind. (Marketing Manager Brooke McCluskey, 34). (Read more)

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