Paul Heintz and Maggie Cassidy (Photo by Mike Dougherty/VTDigger)
VTDigger has promoted Paul Heintz and Maggie Cassidy to its top newsroom positions, interim executive director Jim Welch announced Thursday. Heintz will serve as editor-in-chief and Cassidy as managing editor.
In those positions, Heintz and Cassidy will lead Vermont’s largest newsroom, which includes 24 reporters, photographers and editors — and serves more than 600,000 readers each month.
Heintz has served as VTDigger’s managing editor since January 2021; Cassidy has been deputy managing editor since April 2021. According to Welch, the two have worked to improve the quality of VTDigger’s journalism, support its employees and ensure that the news organization is serving all Vermonters.
Prior to joining VTDigger, Heintz spent nine years at Seven Days, as a staff writer, political columnist and political editor. He has also worked for the PBS NewsHour, the Brattleboro Reformer and the U.S. House of Representatives. Heintz has been named journalist of the year by the New England Society of News Editors and won the New England Newspaper & Press Association’s First Amendment award for successfully advocating for a media shield law in Vermont.
Cassidy worked for the Valley News for nine years — as a reporter, the paper’s first web editor and its top editor. She previously reported for the Boston Globe, Boston Herald and Molokai Dispatch, among other newspapers.
In her new role, Cassidy will oversee the newsroom’s day-to-day operations and will supervise a deputy managing editor and four senior editors.