Houston Chronicle hires Nancy Barnes as new editor

Hearst Newspapers names Nancy Barnes editor and executive vice president for news at the Houston Chronicle - Under her leadership, the Star Tribune won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Local News

Nancy Barnes

Hearst Newspapers announced today that Nancy Barnes, 52, has been named editor and executive vice president, news, for the Houston Chronicle. The announcement was made by Hearst Corporation President and CEO Steven R. Swartz and Hearst Newspapers President Mark Aldam.

Barnes, who has been the editor of the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, will begin her position leading the Chronicle and Chron.com newsroom on October 14. In addition to the Chronicle’s 950,000 daily readers and 1.5 million readers on Sunday, Chron.com, is widely regarded as one of the top newspaper websites averaging more than 103 million page views and 16.7 million unique visitors each month.

Commenting on the announcement, Swartz said, “Nancy has deep new media experience across the platforms that matter to our readers and a strong commitment to excellence in local journalism. I’m pleased to welcome her to Hearst.”

“Nancy understands the value and impact of local enterprise reporting that distinguishes a newsroom,” Aldam said. “We are very excited to have her join our leadership team in Houston.”

Barnes was named editor and senior vice president of Star Tribune Media Company in 2007. As editor, she focused the staff on local enterprise reporting and multiplatform news production, while also managing cost-savings initiatives. Under her leadership, the Star Tribune won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Local News, the 2013 Gerald Loeb Award for Breaking News, two 2013 Edward R. Murrow Awards for multimedia journalism and numerous other national awards for business, sports, features and news reporting. Prior to her role as editor, Barnes was deputy managing editor for content for the Star Tribune from 2005 to 2007 and assistant managing editor for business news from 2003 to 2005.

“I’m honored to be asked to lead the Houston Chronicle during one of the most fascinating eras in both Houston’s history and American journalism,” Barnes said.

Barnes succeeds former editor Jeff Cohen, who moved over to the newspaper's editorial and op-ed pages, after leading the paper for 10 years.
She has an MBA from the University of North Carolina and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia. Barnes is on the board of directors of the American Society of News Editors.

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(This post taken from a Hearst news release)


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