Between incoming section heads lacking managerial experience and hiring outside talent to fill key staff positions, Kevin Bargnes is likely to hit some bumps along the road when he takes over as The Badger Herald’s new editor-in-chief.

But Bargnes, the newspaper’s chairman and CEO, seems confident about the upcoming academic year.

“We started assembling a pretty good group of people here,” Bargnes said in a phone interview. “A lot of new blood, a lot of people who have not been as heavily involved with the Herald as we used to hire in the past.

“It’s good because we don’t have people who are set in their ways and used to the old thing. It’s also, of course, negative because they don’t have as much experience.”

One of the new section heads is Carolyn Briggs, current campus editor hired to replace Alex Brousseau as next semester’s news editor, one of the Herald’s most demanding positions.

The job is normally filled with editors already experienced in running the section under a previous news editor. It is not uncommon to have a deputy news editor, the section’s third in charge, promoted to news editor. But this is the first time in several years that an associate news editor, the department’s entry-level editing position, takes over the Herald’s largest section.

With Brousseau retiring, News Content Editor Signe Brewster studying abroad and Deputy News Editor Kyle Mianulli moving up to managing editor, Bargnes had few options.

“It’s kind of how it goes,” Bargnes said.

For next year, the new editor wants to hold frequent workshops for new writers and editors, a move that could improve the Herald’s value as an educational tool in the University of Wisconsin.

“I’ve gotten so frustrated just by our inability to write any news story with the least bit of perspective about why it matters,” said Bargnes, who started as a state news reporter, quickly moving up the ladder to managing editor. “Our associate news editors struggle with it, always have, and I’d like to see that change next year.”

Another relatively new hire is Jake Begun, an associate news editor running the city desk who will take over the opinion page, a section that continues to struggle with lack of writers. Just recently, an opinion writer was let go due to plagiarism, a problem that has plagued the Herald in the past year.

The change, Bargnes said, is welcome but could be challenging. “I’m confident that with Jake’s management skills, we’ll get a solid schedule in there,” he added.

As for the design department, things remain uncertain. Bargnes and Mianulli have yet to find a deputy design director, and it will have to be an outside hire.

Finances

For a second there, it looked like the Herald wasn’t going to make it. The news industry in general continues to falter, and it’s no surprise that a college newspaper was struggling to compete for advertisement revenue. To top it all off, the Herald was buried in accumulating debt.

Some paid positions were eliminated, full pages for in-depth articles were drastically reduced and trips to sporting events were virtually extinct for a while. But according to Bargnes, things have turned around.

“Overall, it has improved drastically in the past six months,” he added. “Going into September, it was looking like we might not make it. But ad sales were strong, we were able to do well with collections and for the first time in probably at least three years, we’re going to be making some serious capital investment.”

Herald management is likely to purchase new photo and computer equipment, a welcome addition in any newsroom.

Online

Bargnes has also added the position of online editor, which will be at first taken over by veteran Heralder Charlie Gorichanaz, who is scheduled to graduate in December.

The position is charged with editing the Wiki, a project to compile information about the University of Wisconsin, the city of Madison and Wisconsin as a whole. The online editor will also approve all online comments in an effort to avoid fiascos like the one from earlier this year, when anti-Semitic comments were posted on Badgerherald.com, creating controversy for the newspaper.

Kudos

Kudos from this semester’s final public editor column go to you, the reader, for enduring my bitching and moaning. Your thoughtful feedback is the reason why this column exists, and without you, this newspaper would never be able to reevaluate itself and improve its doings.

Many thanks.

Good luck with finals and have a great summer.

Despite likely hardships, this public editor is looking forward to the new things The Badger Herald’s incoming leadership will bring. Ages ago, when I worked as this newspaper’s news editor, I hired a young campus editor eager to work hard and become a great journalist.

I am confident he will continue to do so.

Pedro Oliveira Jr. is a former news editor of The Badger Herald. He is currently a news reporter at The Janesville Gazette. Please send complaints and comments on Herald coverage to [email protected]. The public editor will investigate all complaints.