Citing a strong application and attuned vision of how Ohio University’s editorially independent, student-run publication should function, The Post’s publishing board selected Ryan Clark on Friday to be the newspaper’s editor-in-chief next year.
Clark, a junior from Cincinnati studying journalism, will replace outgoing Editor-in-Chief Pat Holmes starting at the end of Spring Semester.
The board’s decision was three-pronged.
“(Clark) wants a push for more enterprise reporting, he wants to focus on training the staff and he’s got the right mindset for multimedia,” said Aimee Edmondson, an assistant professor of journalism and the publishing board’s chairwoman.
Clark said that as the top editor, his biggest priority would be maintaining an environment conducive to learning for young reporters while making sure The Post is a respectable publication in Athens County.
Also on his agenda is publishing a philanthropic series, working on a website redesign, improving day-to-day operations of the newspaper’s more than 100 student workers and engaging readers through online formats.
“The digital realm is considered the next frontier,” Clark said. “We need to embrace that change and catch up.”
Clark started working as a reporter for the The Post’s city staff. He would later serve as local news editor for a year before accepting a fellowship at The Columbus Dispatch through the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism Statehouse News Bureau this Spring Semester. He has been asked to stay on at The Dispatch for a reporting internship this summer and has previously interned at The Cincinnati Enquirer.
Holmes said the other applicants for the editor-in-chief job, Campus Editor Alex Felser and Local Editor Kelly Gifford, would be great additions to The Post’s staff next year.
“Obviously with three candidates, it’s going to be a tough call, but the board made the right decision,” Holmes said.
The appointment has brought Clark a plethora of congratulations on social media, but he said he just wants to get to work and follow in the footsteps of editors before him, such as Joe Ragazzo, the editor-in-chief for 2010-11, Clark’s freshman year.
“Joe was this larger-than-life figure for me and he surprised me one day by greeting me by name when I didn’t even know he knew I existed,” Clark said. “Just recognizing everyone who wants to come in and do something great is what past editors have done for me, and I want to do my best to do that for someone else.”
jj360410@ohiou.edu
