Local paper to get new editor

By Eric Maddy
The SCORE

Rio Rancho’s biweekly newspaper is seeking its fourth editor in less than a year.

Russ Cannon, publisher of The Observer, confirmed Friday evening that Lia Martin resigned as editor earlier in the day. An advertisement for the position appeared on the website “JournalismJobs.com” late Monday morning.

 “It just came up this morning,” Cannon said. “I quickly just put a note there because I’ve had good success (using the site to fill jobs previously).

“I’ve actually had about 10 applications since 10 this morning. I’ve had about three from New Mexico and a couple of those from the Albuquerque area, and certainly would be more likely to entertain having a local person that would be familiar with the area rather than somebody from outside. That’s probably where I’ll start.”

None of the in-state candidates is from the defunct Albuquerque Tribune, which ceased publication earlier this year.

“I haven’t had one Tribune so far and that surprises me, frankly,” Cannon said. “I’ve been doing this for about 40 years, and my experience has been that sometimes it’s difficult to go from a daily mentality to a weekly or twice-weekly mentality. But I thought I’d get a Trib or two, and maybe I will next week.”

Cannon praised Martin for her efforts.

 “I’m sorry that Leah is leaving, but she wanted to get out of editorial and get back into sales,” Cannon said. “She gave us some good improvements on putting the word ‘local’ back into the paper.

“It’s kind of unfortunate for us, but the world will go on and she will be successful in whatever she does.”

Cannon said Martin would not be staying with the paper.

“We don’t have any opening in sales. We filled the last one just this week,” Cannon said. “We had a talk on Wednesday, and she came in this morning and said ‘I think I want to get back into sales.’”

Finding a new reporter or editor is nothing new for Cannon, who was publisher of the newspaper in Pierre, S.D., before coming to Rio Rancho in December.

“In 40 years, (I’ve filled) maybe one, two or 300 positions,” Cannon said.

When the newspaper from Pierre converted from evening to morning delivery during his tenure, Cannon said he lost 60 percent of his staff over the next two years.

“And that was the third one (where Cannon was involved in a delivery conversion,” Cannon said.

Martin’s resignation is the latest in a series of changes at the newspaper over the past year.

Betta Ferrendeli served as managing editor of The Observer from February 2004 until leaving to become editor of Mile High Newspapers Inc. last September. When she was replaced by Joe Joshi, the title of the position was changed to editor.

Joshi was with the paper for about four months, guiding the newspaper’s change to a tabloid format, before being replaced by Martin in late February.

In addition to Cannon being named publisher in December after Sandy Rea resigned, the paper’s only staff reporter, Jimmy Currier, came on board in October. The only person who has been on the editorial staff for more than a year is sports editor Gary Herron.

The ad reads: “Editor for weekly newspaper in exciting growth community. Fastest growing city in New Mexico. Beautiful 4-season mild climate. Right now we have a new hospital, two college campuses, a movie studio and a 1300-job computer company announced and ready to build. Great opportunity for a forward thinking, community news oriented, well organized editor with good design skills. Small staff but can build with plenty of community participation. Paper is 35 years young. Good company with benefits including health, life, STD, vacation, 401K. If you can think outside the box and ready for an exciting challenge, email me now at rcannon@rrobserver.com.”