Laidlaw appointed deputy national editor at NPR

NPR chief national editor, Vickie Walton-James and Ammad Omar, deputy national editor – West, sent out the following:

Dear all,

We’re thrilled to announce that Catherine Laidlaw will be joining the National Desk as our new Deputy National Editor for the East, after an exhaustive, nationwide search.

Catherine joined NPR more than a decade ago, having worked as an editor at the San Diego Union-Tribune, the San Francisco Examiner and the San Francisco Chronicle as well as managing editor at The Industry Standard.   During her time at NPR she quickly established herself as a trusted and essential news leader.   Catherine has held management positions in all corners of the newsroom:  she managed NPR.org as the acting director for more than a year, and oversaw NPR’s digital coverage of the coronavirus pandemic and the repercussions of racial injustice.   Most recently, Catherine has been working as a Supervising Editor on Morning Edition.

Catherine’s deep understanding of digital news, her stellar journalism background, and her ability to deftly navigate the complex world of NPR will be huge assets to the National Desk, and the audience we hope to serve.  Her reputation as a thoughtful, yet decisive leader precedes her as she joins our team.

As a University of Missouri graduate, she will now have to formulate a plan to mentally block out all of the rival University of Kansas stickers and memorabilia that decorate the National Desk area.  We wish her nothing but the best of luck.

I hope you’ll join us in congratulating and welcoming her to the National Desk, where she will start on June 27th.