N.B. newspapers tap Neil Reynolds as editor
Last Updated: Wednesday, September 9, 2009 | 7:22 AM AT
CBC News
Irving-owned Brunswick News Inc. has hired Neil Reynolds to serve as editor-at-large for its three daily newspapers.
In a front-page announcement in each of the papers on Wednesday, James D. Irving, the president of Brunswick News Inc., announced that Reynolds would return to New Brunswick in the new position.
Reynolds, who has most recently been a business columnist for the Globe and Mail, served as the editor of the Telegraph-Journal and the Saint John Times-Globe from 1992 to 1996 before leaving for similar positions with the Ottawa Citizen and the Vancouver Sun.
Reynolds will not be moving to New Brunswick but will operate in the newly created post from his home in Ottawa.
"I had followed some of the problems the paper was having at a distance. I had always retained interest in these papers and I thought it was a marvellous opportunity," Reynolds said in an interview.
"I think I can help with this assignment and it's going to be great working with people I've worked with before and for whom I have a great deal of respect."
In the same announcement, Irving announced that his son, Jamie Irving, will serve as vice-president at Brunswick News Inc. It did not say whether he would return to the Telegraph-Journal.
"Mr. Reynolds' focus will be on the development and oversight of the editorial policies, standards and journalistic practices of the newspapers," the announcement said.
"Jamie Irving will continue to be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the newspapers. Mr. Irving will report to Mr. Reynolds on matters related to editorial policies, standards, and journalistic practices."
Irving was forced to leave his position as publisher of the Telegraph-Journal after a front-page apology to Prime Minister Stephen Harper for a story that questioned whether he put a communion wafer in his pocket during the state funeral for former governor general Romeo LeBlanc. The front-page apology admitted the story was not factual.
After the apology, Shawna Richer was fired from her post as editor of the Telegraph-Journal.
The Telegraph-Journal has endured a summer of high-profile mistakes.
In May, the newspaper was criticized for firing an intern over a story about opposition to Premier Shawn Graham receiving an honorary degree from the University of New Brunswick. The intern admitted to making three minor errors in the story.
Most recently, the Telegraph-Journal had to apologize after a reporter plagiarized a story from New Brunswick's French-language daily newspaper.
Reynolds will bring fairness: former editor
Reynolds's return to New Brunswick's newspaper industry is being celebrated after the stream of gaffes that have appeared in the Telegraph-Journal this summer.
Mark Tunney, a journalism instructor at St. Thomas University and a former Telegraph-Journal editor, described Reynolds as one of the great Canadian newspaper editors.
"The Telegrapn-Journal has been on so many campaigns and people have started to read things into their stories, 'Where's this coming from? Is this Jamie's little thing? Is this is father's little thing,' " Tunney said.
"I think he will come in and bring some fairness to the paper."
