A couple of changes at the Chronicle merit an announcement.
First, the newspaper is going to run a regular Sunday column from reader representative James T. Campbell. The first column ran this past Sunday. In this recent post, Campbell also promises to give more attention to his blog, which he admits has suffered from periods of neglect. Campbell encourages readers to interact with him, and I encourage folks to take advantage of the fact that the Chronicle has made its reader rep more prominent (which we encouraged in this old post) and available. I’d further encourage folks to be polite, and to remember that he’s not the editor of the newspaper, but the guy who can carry your criticism to reporters/editors if he thinks it’s warranted.
Second, Dwight Silverman has been bumped from his position as online news editor to interactive journalism editor. Silverman has been instrumental in the development of Chron.com’s blogs, not to mention the online edition’s significant development as a news entity. The Houston Chronicle is much more than the traditional fishwrap these days in no small part because of Silverman’s work with Chron.com. Here’s hoping his new position leads to even bigger things.
CLARIFICATION (09-16-2005): When I used the term “bumped,” I meant to convey a bump up, and certainly didn’t mean to connote or denote anything negative. As the linked post from Silverman makes abundantly clear, he views the new title and responsibilities highly positively, as do I. My apologies if my language was at all unclear on that.
