Connecticut Post Editor Tom Baden is now editor of The News-Times, a sister paper of the Post that serves the Danbury area. Hearst Connecticut Media’s Editorial Director David McCumber will supervise the Post’s editorial direction until a new editor is named. From the Post:
Thomas Baden, editor of the Connecticut Post for the last four years, has been appointed editor at The News-Times of Danbury. Both papers are part of Hearst Connecticut Media Group.
Art Cummings, a fixture in Western Connecticut newspapers for 40 years, was named editor emeritus of The News-Times. Cummings, 65, had been editor of The News-Times for five years.
In an announcement, Hearst Connecticut Media’s Editorial Director David McCumber said Baden’s appointment is “reflective of our mandate for continuous improvement at all of our newspapers, in print and online, and I know he will have The News-Times staff’s help and support in that effort.”
McCumber announced the appointments to the staffs of both newspapers Wednesday afternoon. The changes took effect immediately, he said.
“I’m honored to become editor of The News-Times,” Baden said. “The newspaper has a proud tradition of vigorous public service to its readers and of being strongly connected to the community. I look forward to working with a talented staff that has maintained the core values of our profession even as it has embraced the new challenges of journalism in the digital age.”
In the short term, McCumber will oversee news operations at The Post until a new editor is named. He also will continue to coordinate coverage for all the Hearst Connecticut newspapers.
During Baden’s tenure at the Post, the newspaper substantially increased its online readership and use of social media, and it focused extensively on watchdog and enterprise projects.
The newspaper produced an eight-page section that probed the circumstances of how Fairfield University alumnus Douglas Perlitz stood accused of preying on underprivileged boys in Haiti as well as the larger issue of sexual predators in Third World countries. The Post also sponsored a recount of the 2010 governor’s election in Bridgeport that found widespread inaccuracies in the counting of photocopied ballots. The story was cited when the state reformed its election laws dealing with the ballot-ordering process. The newspaper’s 2011 report on how toxic contamination left behind by Raymark Industries in Stratford had not been disclosed to homebuyers spurred a new law toughening real estate disclosure rules.
Baden, 58, previously was executive editor of The Salt Lake Tribune, managing editor of The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Pa., and a national political writer and White House correspondent for the Newhouse News Service in Washington, D.C.
News-Times Publisher Shawn Palmer said he looked forward to working with Baden.
“He is an accomplished editor who will bring fresh ideas to the news-gathering team at The News-Times,” Palmer said. “I know he will challenge our journalists and coach them to meet the increased expectations on news gathering in a multimedia world.”
In his new role as editor emeritus, Cummings will expand his “Gut Feeling” column, continue as a member of the newspaper’s editorial board and represent the paper at community events.
“Since I arrived at The News-Times in 2010, Art Cummings has been an indispensable source of information to me on the Greater Danbury area,” Palmer said. “I am thrilled that he will continue to play an important role representing The News-Times in the community.”
Besides The News-Times and The Post, Hearst Connecticut Media owns The Advocate in Stamford and Greenwich Time, as well as seven weeklies and affiliated websites.
Let’s see if Ernie Newton decides to march and protest this move by Hearst Connecticut Media.
Master Baden whacks off Park City to put a hat on it!
No loss. The CT Post is just another uninformed rag that uses other websites to make itself look important. With the possible exception of Keila Torres Ocasio, the reporting is amateurish, slanted, and in many cases incorrect with the facts.
No, Baden was a good editor. You should be sorry to see him go, and hope his replacement has some sort of the same commitment.
The Post became engaged with the community in a meaningful way for the first time in a long time under his editorship. In-depth reports look nice when applying for awards. More important to an old mug like me is The Post began to cover Bridgeport issues again. This does not win awards but informs and illuminates the community. I think that is more important with “old-fashioned” print or the “thing that is here” in social media.
The only social media that I know works is para-mutual betting on racehorses. Somebody is making a buck off that.
*** Parting brings the ‘Port such sweet news sorrow with hopes of better coverage tomorrow, no? *** FORGETABOUTIT ***