McClatchy Names Anders Gyllenhaal Vice President, News and Washington Editor

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Oct. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Anders Gyllenhaal, the senior vice president and executive editor of The Miami Herald who has led three McClatchy newsrooms over his career, today was named vice president, news and Washington editor by The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI). His appointment is effective Nov. 1.

Gyllenhaal, 59, has been The Miami Herald's executive editor since 2007. From 2002 to 2007, he served as editor and senior vice president at the Star Tribune in Minneapolis under McClatchy ownership. Previously, he was executive editor and senior vice president of The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C.

Gyllenhaal is the immediate past chairman of the Pulitzer Prize Board and served on the Pulitzer board from 2001 to 2010.

As vice president, news, Gyllenhaal joins McClatchy's senior management team as the top news executive in the company. That role was last held by Howard Weaver, who retired from McClatchy at the end of 2008. As Washington editor, Gyllenhaal will oversee the McClatchy Washington Bureau and McClatchy's foreign news bureaus. Gyllenhaal will be based in Washington, D.C.

"Anders is an ideal fit to serve in this new capacity," said Gary Pruitt, McClatchy's chairman and chief executive. "Not only is Anders one of the nation's leading editors, he's also one of the most forward-thinking. He's long been an advocate of innovative storytelling, experimentation and digital journalism. We're thrilled to amplify his voice, ideas and experiences in this role, which will benefit our entire company.

"Fundamentally, I think this appointment speaks to McClatchy's commitment to news and quality journalism," Pruitt said. "Everything we do at McClatchy, ultimately, is about continuing a 153-year-old mission to provide our communities with high quality news and information."

Gyllenhaal began his journalism career in 1975 as a reporter for the Daily News Record in Harrisonburg, Va. In 1977 he moved to The Press in Atlantic City, N.J., and joined The Miami Herald in 1979, where he worked as a local news reporter, statewide correspondent, investigative reporter and Broward County editor.

In 1991, Gyllenhaal moved to The News & Observer, working as metro editor and managing editor before becoming editor in 1997. The News & Observer was a digital pioneer in the early 1990s, developing an ambitious online strategy and publishing one of the first news and sports websites updated around the clock. In 1996, the paper won the Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal for Public Service for "Boss Hog," a five-part series examining the environmental and health risks surrounding North Carolina's growing hog industry.

From 2002 to 2007, Gyllenhaal was editor of the Star Tribune, Minnesota's largest newspaper, where he oversaw dramatic redesigns of both the newspaper and its website. In 2007, he returned to The Miami Herald as executive editor and continued the paper's traditions of journalism excellence and innovation.

In 2009, The Miami Herald won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography for a series of black-and-white photographs taken of a storm-ravaged Haiti and the resulting humanitarian disaster. Under Gyllenhaal's leadership, The Miami Herald forged a number of creative partnerships with other Florida newspapers to expand The Miami Herald's print and digital offerings during a difficult economy and with fewer resources.

"McClatchy has always stood for quality journalism above all else," Gyllenhaal said. "The challenge now is to take that timeless standard and apply it to all the forms we now deliver – print, digital, mobile, apps and video among them. I'm delighted and honored to play a role in this work all across our newsrooms."

Gyllenhaal said he was particularly excited to join the McClatchy Washington Bureau on the eve of national elections.

"The story from Washington is crucial, complicated and intriguing," Gyllenhaal said. "It's really one of the most interesting times in modern U.S. political history, and I'm looking forward to being in the middle of that daily story."

Gyllenhaal was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and raised in rural Pennsylvania. He holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from George Washington University. He is married to Beverly Mills, a syndicated food columnist and cookbook author, and has two children, Sam, 21, and Grey, 19.

The Miami Herald today named Managing Editor Aminda "Mindy" Marques Gonzalez as executive editor and Gyllenhaal's successor.

A 19-year veteran of The Miami Herald newsroom, Marques Gonzalez, 46, grew up in Miami-Dade County and joined the paper as a reporter after graduating from the University of Florida in 1986. She later worked as an editor on the paper's Neighbors section and metro desk.

Marques Gonzalez left the paper in 2002 to work as the Miami bureau chief for People Magazine. She returned to The Miami Herald in 2007 as a multimedia editor. She later was promoted to senior editor for news and was named managing editor in May 2010, second in command in the newsroom.

"I am thrilled that Mindy is taking the helm of The Miami Herald newsroom," said David Landsberg, president and publisher of The Miami Herald Media Company. "An outstanding journalist with a deep personal connection to South Florida, she's uniquely qualified to lead us into the future."

Marques Gonzalez becomes The Miami Herald's first Latina executive editor.

"I came up professionally through the Herald. I've either worked with or worked for just about everybody in the newsroom," she said. "I'm incredibly humbled and honored to be leading such an amazing group of journalists."

About McClatchy

The McClatchy Company is the third largest newspaper company in the United States, publishing 30 daily newspapers, 43 non-dailies, and direct marketing and direct mail operations. McClatchy also operates leading local websites in each of its markets which extend its audience reach. The websites offer users comprehensive news and information, advertising, e-commerce and other services. Together with its newspapers and direct marketing products, these interactive operations make McClatchy the leading local media company in each of its premium high growth markets. McClatchy-owned newspapers include The Miami Herald, The Sacramento Bee, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The Kansas City Star, The Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer (Raleigh).

McClatchy also owns a portfolio of premium digital assets, including 14.4% of CareerBuilder, the nation's largest online job site, 25.6% of Classified Ventures, a newspaper industry partnership that offers two of the nation's premier classified websites: the auto website, Cars.com, and the rental site, Apartments.com and 33.3% of HomeFinder, LLC which operates the real estate website HomeFinder.com. McClatchy is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol MNI.

SOURCE The McClatchy Company