Editors elect Sandra Mims Rowe to head ASNE

• By: ASNE staff
• On: 04/11/1997 16:19:00
• In: ASNE elections

WASHINGTON Sandra Mims Rowe, editor of The Oregonian, Portland, was elected president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors today and assumed the leadership of the nation's largest and oldest organization of daily newspaper editors.

She succeeds Robert H. Giles, editor and publisher of The Detroit News, who led ASNE during the past year. He will continue ex officio on the board.

Other officers elected were: Edward Seaton, editor-in-chief of The Manhattan (Kan.) Mercury, vice president; N. Christian Anderson III, publisher of The Gazette, Colorado Springs, secretary; and Richard A. Oppel, Austin (Texas) American-Statesman, treasurer.

Eight directors were elected to the ASNE board during the group's convention week, April 8-11 in Washington. Newly elected to the board were Peter Bhatia, managing editor, The Oregonian, Portland; Edward W. Jones, managing editor, The Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg, Va.; Ralph Langer, executive vice president and editor, The Dallas Morning News; Wanda Lloyd, managing editor/features, administration and planning, The Greenville (S.C.) News; and Rick Rodriguez, managing editor, The Sacramento (Calif.) Bee. ASNE members also re-elected three incumbent directors: Karla Garrett Harshaw, editor of the Springfield (Ohio) News-Sun; Linda C. Lightfoot, executive editor of The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La; and Diane McFarlin, executive editor, Sarasota (Fla.) Herald Tribune. Bhatia, Harshaw, Lightfoot, Lloyd and McFarlin won three-year terms. Rick Rodriguez won a two-year term. Jones and Langer each won one-year terms.

Rowe has been editor of The Oregonian in Portland since 1993. The newspaper which has 360,000 daily circulation, is the largest newspaper in the Northwest. From 1984-1993, Rowe was executive editor and vice president of The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star, Norfolk and Virginia Beach, Va. She had been with the newspaper company for 22 years, serving as reporter, assistant city editor, features editor, and managing editor before becoming executive editor. Under her leadership, the newspaper won the Pulitzer Prize for general news reporting in 1985.

She is a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board, which awards the prizes in arts, literature and journalism.

In her year as president, Rowe intends to help ASNE focus on the newspaper credibility issue and provide leadership in the industry among those working on the issue.

During the coming year, ASNE's work will be organized through 16 committees, its board and the ASNE Foundation.

Board members continuing as directors are: Richard Aregood, The Star-Ledger, Newark, N.J.; John S. Carroll, editor, The Sun, Baltimore; Gene Foreman, deputy editor, The Philadelphia Inquirer; Robert J. Haiman, president emeritus, Poynter Institute; Deborah Howell, editor, Newhouse News Service, Washington; Tim J. McGuire, editor/senior vice president of new media, Star Tribune, Minneapolis; and Marcia A. McQuern, editor and publisher, Riverside (Calif.) Press-Enterprise.

Five members left the board: Al Johnson, executive editor, Columbus (Ga.) Ledger-Enquirer; Ron Martin, editor, The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution; Acel Moore, associate editor, The Philadelphia Inquirer; William F. Woo, formerly of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch; and William B. Ketter, The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, Mass., who was president of ASNE in 1995-96.

The American Society of Newspaper Editors, with 870 members, is an organization of the main editors of daily newspapers in the United States and Canada. Founded in 1922, ASNE’s principal purpose is to serve as a medium for exchange of ideas and the professional growth and development of its members.