Shaken USA Today Names New Editors

USA Today named veteran journalist and free speech commentator Kenneth A. Paulson its new editor Thursday, as the newspaper moved to rebuild after a fraud scandal involving a former reporter.

Paulson, 50, replaces Karen Jurgensen, who resigned last week just before executives released a report by a panel of journalism experts that faulted management for not catching reporter Jack Kelley’s misdeeds. Kelley was found to have committed many acts of fabrication and plagiarism over the the last decade.

Paulson was an editor and reporter for 18 years and held several senior editing positions within Gannett Co., USA Today’s parent company and the largest newspaper publisher in the country.

Most recently Paulson was executive director of the First Amendment Center, a free speech education organization. Paulson, who is also a lawyer, wrote a column and hosted a weekly public television show on free expression issues.

Paulson said he would proceed gingerly in implementing the panel’s recommendations for improving the newspaper’s culture.

USA Today also named replacements for Hal Ritter, who resigned last week as managing editor for news, and for executive editor Brian Gallagher, who is becoming editor of the editorial page.

John Hillkirk, formerly managing editor of the newspaper’s business section, will succeed Gallagher as executive editor, and Carol Stevens, formerly editor of the editorial page, will become managing editor for news. Jim Henderson, the deputy managing editor in the business section, will replace Hillkirk.