PERSONS

NewsInc, July 7, 2008

Publishers: At Washington state's Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, Rob Blethen has been named associate publisher; previously, he was ad director of the Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram (all owned by The Seattle Times Co.). Blethen has been at the Maine newspapers since 2002, where "he held numerous management positions in advertising and circulation." That stint followed a 13-year career at the Seattle Times, where he "held positions in each of the major departments in the organization." Blethen is expected to be named publisher of the Union-Bulletin in the first half of next year, when Larry Duthie is expected to retire. ...

Editors: At the Washington Post, Marcus Brauchli has been named executive editor; most recently, he was managing editor of the Wall Street Journal, a job he held a little more than a year, until May. Earlier, he was deputy managing editor at the Journal, a job he held for 16 months. Brauchli was a 24-year veteran of Dow Jones, having started as a copyreader for the AP-Dow Jones Newswire. Later, he served as a reporter for the Newswire and joined the Journal in 1987, serving in a variety of overseas bureaus. He moved to New York in 1999 and became national editor in 2000 and global news editor in 2003. Brauchli will succeed Leonard Downie Jr., who said last month he would retire as executive editor in September. Downie has been the top editor of the Post for 17 years. ... At the Christian Science Monitor in Boston, John Yemma has been named editor; previously, he was deputy managing editor for multimedia at the Boston Globe. This is something of a home-coming for Yemma, who worked at the Monitor from 1979-1988, where he was in the paper's Washington bureau, a Middle East correspondent and the paper's business editor. At the Globe, Yemma was assistant editor of the Globe magazine, a reporter covering the first Gulf War, foreign editor, culture reporter, deputy managing editor for the Sunday paper and national political editor. Yemma replaces Richard Bergenheim, who will become editor at large at the Monitor. ... At the Mining Journal of Marquette, Mich., Bud Sargent has been named managing editor; previously, he was managing editor of the Daily Mining Gazette of Houghton, Mich., a job he'd held since 2004 (both are Ogden papers). Earlier, Sargent had a 15-year career in the newsroom of the Journal, both as a reporter and editor. ... At Missouri's Kansas City Star, Mike Fanin has been named editor; previously, he was managing editor for sports and features, a job he's held since 2006. Fanin joined the Star in 1997 as a deputy sports editor and later served as assistant managing editor for sports. Fanin started his career at the San Antonio Light and when that paper folded in 1993, he was Sunday sports editor. He later spent four years as an assistant sports editor at the Dallas Morning News. ... At the Daily Gazette in Schenectady, N.Y., Judith Patrick has been named managing editor; previously, she was day city editor, a job she'd held since 2006. A 26-year veteran of the paper, Patrick has been a reporter in four different bureaus for the paper, a Sunday writer, an arts writer and assistant city editor. Earlier, she was a reporter at The Recorder in Amsterdam, N.Y. ... At The Record-Herald of Washington Court House, Ohio, Debra Gaskill has been named editor; previously, she was a free-lance writer with the Madison Press of London, Ohio (both are Brown Publishing papers). Gaskill has worked for a number of other Brown Publishing Co. papers, including the Huber Heights Courier, the Enon Messenger, New Carlisle Sun, the West Milton Record and the Xenia Daily Gazette. She's also worked as a free-lancer at the Dayton Daily News and The Associated Press. ... At the Philadelphia Daily News, Pat McLoone has been named managing editor; previously, he was assistant managing editor. The Philadelphia native began his career as an editorial assistant at the Philadelphia Bulletin and moved to a similar job at the Daily News in 1980. McLoone then worked his way up the editorial ladder, serving as a sportswriter, copy editor, night sports editor and executive sports editor. ...

New media maven: At Tribune Interactive in Chicago, Kim Johnson has been named senior vice president of local sales; previously, she was executive vice president of sales in the New York City office of CityReach Latino of Sacramento, a job she'd held since June 2005. Earlier, she was vice president of Internet sales for Clear Channel Radio of Cincinnati and before that was Internet sales and training director of the company. She was also Internet sales veep at Entercom Radio. In the now-typical, wise-cracking Tribune press release, the company alleged that Johnson had won the job in a radio call-in contest. ...

Times men: At the New York Times, Paul Smurl has been named vice president of advertising; previously, he was executive director of advertising strategy and planning, a job he'd held less than a year. Earlier, Smurl was managing director of the technology advertiser team and before that managing director of the telecom advertiser team. He started at the paper in 2003 as a director in strategic planning. Before joining the Times, Smurl was a management consultant and lawyer, working for companies such as News Corp. and British Telecom. Also at the Times, Michael Valentine has been named vice president of human resources; previously, he held a similar position with Publishers Circulation Fulfillment, a job he'd held since 2001. Earlier, Valentine spent two years with the Times as human resources and operations director at the paper's New York printing plants and before that was with Eaton Corp., Allied Signal, Nabisco Brands, Johnson & Johnson and PepsiCo. ...