Consumer Reports hires former Detroit Free Press biz editor

Chris Kirkpatrick, the former business editor at the Detroit Free Press, has been hired by Consumer Reports as deputy director of content development

Kirkpatrick is working directly with the Autos, Money and News teams to help develop journalism and story telling important to consumers. He’ll also be working with other content teams on story development.

“It’s a very cool job and a wonderful opportunity,” said Kirkpatrick in an email to Talking Biz News.

In April 2016, Kirkpatrick had been promoted to senior news director at the Free Press, directing planning of Sunday stories as well as overseeing the business and autos coverage.

Kirkpatrick grew up in the Detroit area and began his journalism career in 1994 at The Herald Sun in Durham, N.C., where he covered a variety of beats, including legislative issues, and won state and national awards for his work.

He moved to the Toledo Blade in 2004 and worked as an economic development and projects reporter. He was a lead writer on a team that conducted a year-long investigative project that uncovered widespread corruption in Ohio state government. The reporting effort was honored as a finalist for the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in public service and was a finalist for the Goldsmith Prize in Investigative Reporting from Harvard.

The coverage won a Gerald Loeb Award for best business writing, as well as National Headliner Awards in investigative reporting and the grand prize category.

Kirkpatrick joined The Charlotte Observer in 2006. He worked in business there and covered energy and economic development issues. Among his efforts, he helped cover a US Airways takeover bid that won a Society of American Business Editors and Writers award for breaking news coverage in 2007. He returned to Toledo for about a year as a reporter and occasional editor before joining the Free Press.

At Consumer Reports, Kirkpatrick reports to Glenn Derene, director, content development.