Editor // Words. Data. Strategy.
As a consulting editor, I focus on the organizational challenges specific to doing good journalism at the local level, particularly related to the goal of sustaining & improving local government coverage.
What that looks like: I work with news leaders on editorial planning, resource management and impact. I also help stand up new initiatives, facilitate hard conversations, lead training and offer 1:1 reporting and writing coaching.Areas of expertise:
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I take on complex projects, often working behind the scenes with editors and other leaders to create and roll out new internal processes, or stand up new products or initiatives.
That work includes: Designing and hosting purposeful conversations with groups to achieve consensus and inform executive-level decision-making; problem-solving related to the tension between resource constraints and producing good journalism; organizing and managing collaborations and new projects with diverse stakeholders; and a devotion to setting goals, creating good process and collecting useful feedback to inform the work.
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I provide both developmental and line editing support, working closely with writers from the early drafting phase through to publication. My approach focuses first on the quality of information and sourcing — accuracy, credibility. Getting not just the basic facts right, but also the context. And then the story, protecting and developing the writer’s voice and style. I also help on the content strategy side of a design process — on nonfiction, educational projects — coordinating closely with visual designers and developers to evaluate the information available to work with and determining what stories there are to tell and how best to tell them in different forms of editorial work.
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I like to say that my excitement for government budgets, committee meetings and dusty shelves of public records is matched only by my happiness in the day’s first cup of coffee.
What I can help with: acquiring primary source documents (court, real estate, archival, etc); backgrounding, interviewing, fact-checking and finding the stories in the data.
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In addition to frequently hosting workshops for professionals, I’ve taught as an adjunct in a university, designed stand alone workshops for summer high school programs, and managed interns. My methods are grounded in the practice, and I challenge students in particular to constantly reflect on their decision-making as they learn a good process for gathering information and producing writing that gets heard.
Topics or classes I often focus on include:
• Journalistic writing and editing: principles, methods and forms (beginner and advanced)
• Investigative / research techniques
• Nonfiction writing — story, structure and making sure you have something worth saying
Why?
My perspective is rooted in experience — I spent the first half of my career reporting and editing at news publications of all sizes in widely different environments. I’ve reported for dailies (afternoon and morning, community & statewide) in places ranging from the cowboy country of Eastern Oregon to the Southern Arkansas Delta. I’ve edited a suburban weekly print publication in Oregon’s affluent Willamette Valley, stood up a hyperlocal digital startup in the blue-collar suburbs of Pittsburgh.
My approach is informed by lessons learned designing and leading projects intended to keep the lights on for local newsrooms. I’ve worked on editorial and revenue strategies, in various capacities, since 2009 — when I was first asked to help design an online subscription strategy for a small daily paper in Arkansas. More recently, in 2019, I stood up and then led a two-year grant-funded collaborative of nearly two dozen local news organizations in Pittsburgh and helped them navigate the business challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As a consulting editor, the defining priorities in my work continue to be sustaining local news operations while producing good journalism.