Lexington Herald-Leader
The has promoted its Deputy Managing Editor Peter Baniak to the position of editor-in-chief.
Herald-Leader
In a Tuesday morning email to the staff, Publisher Tim Kelly announced Baniak as the replacement for former editor Linda Austin who left for a job in academia in April after two years at the helm.
"Peter has truly risen through the ranks," Kelly wrote in his email about Baniak who interned at the paper and came back to start full time in 1995.
Herald-Leader
"He has earned the respect and confidence of those with whom he works. It is clear to me that he has the support of the newsroom staff and a dedication to the and to Lexington, all of which were very important to me in the selection process," Kelly wrote.
Herald-Leader
Baniak was sent by parent company McClatchy last week to interview with company executives at their headquarters in Sacramento.
He is the paper's fourth editor in six years as previous editors Amanda Bennett, Marilyn Thompson and Austin all left after around 24 months on the job. Baniak breaks the mold of those three editors who were brought in for the job as he has been a member of the staff covering city and state government before becoming an editor in 2001.
Calls to Baniak and Kelly were not immediately returned.
Business Lexington
Baniak is the father of three young children and is married to Features Editor Susan Baniak.
He is inheriting a paper that has been feeling the affects of the downturn in the economy and the decline in the newspaper industry. Over the past year the paper has gone through two rounds of buy-outs for employees and three rounds of layoffs. In March the paper cut 15 percent of its total workforce, 49 full-time employees and four part-timers including 14 newsroom employees. Also those remaining on staff following the workforce reduction took at least a 5 percent cut in pay and face work furloughs.