NEW — 1:18 p.m. Dec. 7, 2015
Scott Stoddard is the new editor of The Issaquah Press newspaper group. He started Nov. 30.
He replaces former managing editor Kathleen R. Merrill, who left The Press in October.
Scott Stoddard
Stoddard comes from The News Tribune in Tacoma, where he was a news designer since 2012. In his 27-year career, Stoddard has worked for papers large and small, doing everything from page design and copy editing to reporting and photography.
The industry veteran’s first job took him to Alaska immediately after graduating from Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon. He made a December drive from Portland to Kenai, Alaska, to become the sports editor of a small newspaper there.
Stoddard then held positions at several papers with circulations that ranked in the top 100 of U.S. newspapers, including The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the San Antonio Express-News in Texas.
He has strong ties to the Pacific Northwest, spending 19 years at daily newspapers in Washington and Oregon over the course of his career.
“Scott’s long history of editing and design made him the perfect candidate to be the new editor of The Issaquah Press group,” said Charles Horton, The Issaquah Press newspaper group general manager. “He’s committed to strong local journalism and understands the changing media landscape, and how we can best use the new tools to tell deeper stories that matter to the communities we serve.”
Meet the editor
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The new editor already has plans to improve The Press group, starting with a greater emphasis on the digital side.
Expect to see an increase in the papers’ online presence under Stoddard.
“We are going to put news out there on a daily basis,” he said. “We are not going to be a one-day-a-week news source.”
Stoddard’s call to the newspaper industry came in junior high school after he won a journalism award in eighth grade, he said. He went on to write and shoot photos for his college newspaper.
“As you get into it, you come to love informing people and exposing injustices, explaining things to readers, and giving readers the ability to access things that they might not be able to on their own,” he said.
Stoddard intends to relocate to Issaquah, where The Issaquah Press group offices are located. Readers may contact him at sstoddard@isspress.com or 392-6434 ext. 237.
The Issaquah Press group consists of three weekly newspapers — The Issaquah Press, Sammamish Review and SnoValley Star — and the monthly Newcastle News.