Hearst Newspapers announced today that its Connecticut newspapers, including the Westport News, is getting a new executive editor.
Barbara Roessner: veteran Connecticut journalist. Facebook.com photo
She is Barbara T. Roessner, a veteran Connecticut journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner. She spent 31 years at the Hartford Courant before she was fired in 2009 as managing editor when Tribune Co. merged the newspaper’s news operations with co-owned WTIC-TV Fox 61.
She replaces David McCumber of Wilton, who joined the Connecticut newspapers in April 2009 from the Hearst-owned Seattle Post-Intelligencer where he was managing editor. He will take over as Hearst Washington bureau chief.
Both appointments are effective Aug. 1, said Mark E. Aldam, president, Hearst Newspapers. He worked with Roessner when he was at The Courant where he was senior vice president/chief operating officer until 2006 when he joined Hearst.
McCumber had been editor of The Advocate of Stamford and the Greenwich Time, as well as editorial director of the Connecticut Newspaper Group.
As executive editor of Hearst Connecticut Newspapers, Roessner will oversee all editorial content and initiatives at Hearst’s four dailies in the state and seven weekly newspapers in Fairfield County.
Roessner was managing editor of the Hartford Courant from 2006 to 2009. She began at the Courant in 1978 as a beat reporter and served as chief political writer, opinion columnist, writing coach and deputy managing editor overseeing investigative and enterprise reporting.
In 1999, Roessner was part of the Courant team that received the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news for its coverage of workplace killings at the Connecticut State Lottery headquarters.
Most recently, she worked as a strategic communications consultant, developing and implementing communications and marketing strategy for educational and non-profit institutions, including Harvard University and the Aspen Institute.
The Hearst Connecticut Media Group includes The Advocate of Stamford and Greenwich Time, the Connecticut Post in Bridgeport, The News-Times in Danbury as well as seven weekly newspapers — the Westport News, Fairfield Citizen, Norwalk Citizen, New Canaan News, Darien News, Greenwich Citizen and the Greater New Milford Spectrum.
