Detroit Free Press biz editor is promoted

Christopher Kirkpatrick, who has overseen business news at the Detroit Free Press for the past four years, has been promoted to one of the newsroom’s senior news director positions.

A story on its website states, “Kirkpatrick, 48, formerly director of Business News, will oversee the Free Press’ business and autos coverage, and he’ll direct planning for Sunday stories. Kirkpatrick also will continue to help guide the Free Press’ business awards events, such as the Auto Difference Maker Awards and the annual Top Workplaces honors. The Free Press’ sports director also will report to Kirkpatrick.”

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 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.