Alabama paper names new biz editor

Patrick Rupinski

Patrick Rupinski has been named the new business editor of the Tuscaloosa News in Alabama, replacing Michael James, who became the paper’s executive editor earlier this year.

A story on its website states, “Rupinski, 59, joined The Tuscaloosa News in August 2006 as an assistant news editor, and became the newspaper’s business reporter in January 2009.

“Before coming to Tuscaloosa, he worked for the Birmingham Post-Herald, where he covered business and consumer issues for nearly two decades.

“‘We’re fortunate to have a veteran journalist like Patrick to step into this role,’ James said. ‘He has a wealth of experience covering business and has done a tremendous job for us over the last several years, not only in covering business but in mentoring other journalists in our newsroom. He certainly has earned this opportunity.’

“Rupinski has won numerous awards for his reporting during his career, including a first-place award this year in the Alabama Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest for a story on Tuscaloosa businesses recovering from the April 27, 2011, tornado.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.