NCR announces promotion of two journalists

The National Catholic Reporter has appointed Bill Mitchell as its publisher and Barbara Fraser as its climate editor.

In his new role, Mitchell will oversee editorial-related matters and advertising, circulation and marketing and will be reporting to Tom Fox, CEO and president.

Jim Purcell, NCR board chair said,

“NCR’s Board of Directors congratulates Bill Mitchell on his appointment as publisher and is confident he and CEO Tom Fox will continue to provide strong leadership in these challenging times.”

For the past year, Mitchell had been working as climate editor. He was also part of the team that developed “EarthBeat,” NCR’s project focused on stories of climate crisis, faith and action.

Mitchell has also worked at the Detroit Free Press and Knight Ridder Newspapers as city hall bureau chief, Washington correspondent and foreign correspondent. He has also held the posts of city editor and assistant managing editor for investigations and Detroit bureau chief for Free Press and Time, respectively.

Additionally, he has also served as online editor and marketing director at Poynter Institute before running the institute’s programs in entrepreneurial journalism and international training.

He was also on the NCR board of directors from 1998 to 2004.

Fraser, who succeeds Mitchell as climate editor is an award-winning freelance writer who has previously served as director and English-language editor of Lantinamerica Press/Noticias Aliadas, a weekly, bilingual bulletin of news and analysis from Latin America and the Caribbean.

She is also a three-time winner of Catholic Relief Services’ Eileen Egan Award for Journalistic Excellence and has also won several awards from the Catholic Press Association.

She is also the co-editor of Landscapes of Inequity: Environmental Justice in the Andes-Amazon Region, which was published this month by the University of Nebraska Press.

Heidi Schlumpf, executive editor adds,

“Bringing Barbara Fraser on board expands NCR’s global perspective and reach. I’m excited to work with her to expand upon Bill Mitchell’s work and to grow EarthBeat into the world’s premier news source for environmental justice and faith.”