SHEARER TO COLUMBUS, CHERYL POWELL TO INTERIM EDITOR

 

                                                                    MICHAEL SHEARER

Shearer to Columbus Dispatch; BJ ME Cheryl Powell will be Interim Editor

 

Akron Beacon Journal Editor Michael Shearer was named executive editor of The Columbus Dispatch. Since both are part of Gannett’s USA TODAY network, he’s working for the same people.

Michael is from the Columbus area and has family there so it’s sort of a homecoming for him. He was at the BJ for almost 5 years.

He oversaw news at The Canton Repository, Alliance Review, Massillon Independent and Kent-Ravenna Record-Courier.

Shearer, who will begin his new role Jan. 8, grew up in the Columbus area and served as top editor of The Advocate in Newark from 2000 to 2016.

The former GateHouse Media hired him to lead eight Northeast Ohio newsrooms in 2017 before it acquired the Beacon Journal in 2018 and merged with Gannett in 2019.

Managing Editor Cheryl Powell, at the BJ for 26 years, will be interim editor until a new editor is selected. Cheryl also was the Metro editor and a reporter at the BJ.