Tackett to step down as Aspen Daily News editor in chief

The following excerpt was sent out from the Aspen Daily News:

Megan Tackett’s Aspen chapter begins like many others, yet the mark she’s made as a journalist in this valley is one that few others can claim.

Today is Tackett’s last official day as the editor-in-chief of the Aspen Daily News.

She has accepted an opportunity under Aspen developer Bob Bowden to serve as the operations director for his company and steward the business toward a new chapter of philanthropic intention — an intention dedicated entirely to affordable and workforce housing, Tackett said.

The paper’s current managing editor, Andre Salvail, is taking over as editor-in-chief. It’s a transition, Tackett said, that both she and her newsroom feel happy and confident about moving forward.

As editor, Tackett navigated rolling furloughs and daily news holes. She looked to fill news deserts in the valley, spearheading the launch of the weekly Spanish-language newspaper, Sol del Valle, last January, in collaboration with The Sopris Sun editor Raleigh Burleigh. Burleigh brought the Sol del Valle concept to the downvalley weekly’s pages as a Spanish section when he took the editorial helm there.

Tackett helped lay the groundwork for a new seasonal guide product, Authentic Aspen, which launched last summer. To her, the publication was a tangible representation for readers in the community that “we had come out on the other side” of the pandemic, Tackett said.

Tackett received the Colorado Press Association’s First Amendment Award in September 2022 for her coverage detailing the changes at The Aspen Times following Ogden Newspapers’ acquisition.

“Any discussion of my departure cannot meaningfully be had without my acknowledgment of how grateful I am to the Aspen Daily News and to this community — they accepted a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed courts and crime reporter in the midst of a pandemic,” Tackett said. “It has been such a learning opportunity in every way for me to have sat in this seat in this town, and I don’t take a moment of it for granted.”

“I’ve never better understood ‘bittersweet’ in a professional capacity as I do right now,” Tackett said. “I never went looking for an avenue to leave the Aspen Daily News. … I’ve put blood, sweat and tears into this organization for the last several years, and I wouldn’t leave it willy-nilly. I get to leave it feeling good knowing Andre is coming into the role.”