By David Smiley
`Monica Richardson has been named executive editor of the Miami Herald, el Nuevo Herald and the Bradenton Herald.
The Miami Herald’s parent company named a new executive editor on Monday to lead its newsrooms in Florida — a 30-year veteran of the news business, with expertise in Metro reporting and a specialization in digital news.
Monica R. Richardson, currently the senior managing editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, will join the Miami Herald Jan. 1 as its top editor, according to a McClatchy news release.
Richardson will be the first Black executive editor in the Herald’s 117-year history.
“We are thrilled to welcome Monica to Miami,” Kristin Roberts, McClatchy’s senior vice president of news, said in a statement. “She has a strong record of leadership in local journalism at one of the great metro newsrooms in the country. Now, she brings her commitment to accountability journalism and a track record of successful digital innovation that serves local audiences.”
In an interview, Richardson said she is excited to lead the Miami Herald.
“I’m pleased to be working in a newsroom where journalism is the core mission of everything. That’s what drives me in my career. It’s the passion,” she said. “I wouldn’t be coming to Miami if I didn’t see that passion for journalism.”
Richardson, 50, will focus on growing the media company’s audience and digital subscriptions, according to McClatchy, and promote the journalism produced by the newspaper’s award-winning newsrooms. She will also oversee el Nuevo Herald and the Bradenton Herald, and operate as McClatchy’s Florida regional editor.
Richardson, originally from Charlottesville, Virginia, is a veteran journalist and editor. She has worked at the Charlottesville Observer, Florida Times-Union, and Lexington Herald-Leader over her nearly 30-year career.
She has spent the last 15 years at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where she was the paper’s digital managing editor before her promotion in 2018 to senior managing editor.
Richardson has been named among the Atlanta Business League’s Top 100 Women of Influence in consecutive years and has served as a juror to the national Pulitzer Prize board.
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Richardson succeeds Aminda Marqués González, who last month ended a 10-year run as the Miami Herald’s executive editor to join book publishing company Simon & Schuster.
Richardson joins the Miami Herald at a challenging time for journalism, with the pandemic disrupting revenue streams and forcing employees to work remotely. In a press release announcing her appointment, Richardson said “the impact of the pandemic, racial reckoning and the country’s political divisiveness” make the Herald’s mission “more important now than ever before.”
Richardson said she intends to use her digital experience to help accelerate the Miami Herald’s online transformation. She said one of her first goals as executive editor is also “to build strong relationships in the newsroom, strong relationships in the community, and make sure our newsroom and community are heard.”
Richardson, a graduate of Old Dominion University, is a single mother, raising an adopted eight-year-old daughter. On Monday, Dorothy Tucker, president of the National Association of Black Journalists, applauded her hiring, noting that Herald management had recently committed to adding a high-ranking Black executive to its team.
“We congratulate Monica and are pleased that the McClatchy-owned Herald is taking this important historic step to diversify its management ranks,” said Tucker. “It’s a good business decision that will benefit Herald consumers through the production of additional content that appeals to a broader audience.”
Richardson’s hiring, as the Herald’s first Black executive editor, is an “important milestone” for the paper, Roberts and Miami Herald President Nancy A. Meyer wrote in an email to staff announcing her appointment.
“I don’t take that lightly,” Richardson said. “It means a lot to me. It means a lot to my family. It means a lot to my ancestors. I’ll step into those shoes and work hard.”
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