Updating the Winges appointment

This story updates a staff report we posted Friday from Ohio.com

Beacon Journal names editor
Veteran Winges to lead news operation. Stewart to head Ind. newspaper

By Betty Lin-Fisher
Beacon Journal business writer
Bruce Winges, a 25-year veteran of the Beacon Journal, was named vice president and editor of the newspaper on Friday.

He succeeds Mizell Stewart III, who was the top executive in the newsroom as managing editor.

Stewart, 42, who has been managing editor for 16 months, on Friday was named editor of the Evansville (Ind.) Courier & Press. His last day at the Beacon Journal will be next Friday.

Winges, 52, has had a variety of roles at the Beacon Journal since 1982, including editing and management positions on the news and metro desks and as executive news editor, assistant managing editor for technology and night managing editor. He led a building-wide transition team when the Beacon Journal was purchased last year by Black Press. Most recently, he was deputy managing editor.

``I've been here for 25 years and there have been a lot of good journalists here,'' Winges said. ``It's a very humbling experience to have worked here and now to have the opportunity to lead this newsroom.''

Publisher Edward Moss said he couldn't be more pleased to name Winges as editor.

The Beacon Journal is changing into a multimedia company as the industry grows online, Moss said.

``I'm confident Bruce is the right guy at the right time,'' Moss said.

Moss and Winges said the editor's primary role will be in day-to-day operations of the newsroom and not as much of the public role that previous editors have had. Moss also said there was always a plan to name an editor at the Beacon Journal. Former Vice President and Editor Debra Adams Simmons left the paper in November as part of a cost-cutting move.

``With Mizell's decision to leave the company, this to me was the perfect opportunity to move forward (with an editor),'' Moss said.

Winges said he will look both internally and externally for a managing editor to help him run the newsroom.

An avid photographer, Winges is on the steering committee of the Cuyahoga Valley Photographic Society.

Winges said he's excited about an upcoming redesign of the Web site Ohio.com, which is expected in July. Also, there will be a redesign of the newspaper and a continued focus on local news.

``We have the largest news-gathering operation in Akron. We care about Akron and we want to report on Akron,'' he said.

Winges said he was looking forward to continuing to work with the newsroom staff.

``This newsroom has the journalistic wherewithal to accomplish whatever it sets its mind to. That makes the Beacon Journal a good place to produce good journalism,'' he said.

Winges is a native of Louisville, Ky., and a graduate of the University of Kentucky. He previously worked in Huntington, W.Va.

Winges and his wife, Bonnie Bolden, a former longtime Beacon Journal editor, live in Cuyahoga Falls.

Stewart, a Cleveland native and graduate of Bowling Green State University, worked in Dayton, Akron and Tallahassee, Fla., before returning to the Beacon Journal in January 2006.

Moss thanked Stewart for his work.

[The Beacon Journal,, Akron, OH, Saturday, May 26, 2007, business front, page D1, col. 1]

Click on the headline to see the Evansville-Courier story. Here is the lead:

Mizell Stewart III, top news executive at the Akron Beacon Journal in Akron, Ohio, and a former consultant for Knight Ridder newspapers, has been appointed editor of The Courier & Press, effective June 18.

Stewart, 42, will succeed J. Bruce Baumann, who retired as editor on March 30.