The Valley News is getting a new top editor. Maggie Cassidy started there as a news assistant and most recently she served as the web editor for the newspaper. The Valley News is based in West Lebanon, New Hampshire and covers the Upper Valley.
Cassidy replaces Martin Frank who is retiring after more than three decades at the paper. She joined NHPR's Peter Biello on All Things Considered.
Listen to the interview:
Read an excerpt:
Note: Excerpt transcript has been lightly edited for clarity
Welcome and congratulations on the new role.
Thank you so much.
I want to start by asking the age question since it seems top of mind to the folks who have already reported on this, but I wanted to ask - you're 30 years old. There aren't a lot of 30 year-olds running newsrooms. What do you think your perspective as a millennial will bring to the paper?
Well I think that as a millennial I've, you know, grown up with the web, and that's been a big part of my life both before starting a journalism career and during it. But I think also, I mean, I'm an older millennial at heart.
I grew up in print newsrooms. I carry that perspective with me too. And so I think to a certain extent I have a foot in both worlds, kind of the old school fundamentals of a print newsroom and looking ahead at what the web can do for a newspaper. The ways that we can use the web and how to stay true to those fundamentals in a world that's changing pretty dramatically.
Click the player above to hear the full interview.
