Karl Henkel, who joined the Detroit News earlier this year to cover retail, is now its Ford reporter.
Henkel replaces Jaclyn Trop, who is now at Columbia University on a Knight-Bagehot fellowship.
“We were so impressed with Karl’s maturity and the stories he did in his first couple months with The News that we decided to give him a shot at the Ford beat, which of course is among the paper’s most demanding and important to us,” said News business editor Joanna Firestone in an email to Talking Biz News.
Henkel had also been covering the big non-automotive companies in Michigan and casinos. He previously worked as a business reporter for the Youngstown (Ohio) Vindicator where he covered GM’s Lordstown factories and small business. Prior to that assignment, he had served as a regional beat reporter covering schools, small business and consumer trends.
A graduate of Wayne State University, he is a former freelance writer and stringer for The News. He also had internships at Greater Media Detroit’s WRIF-FM and WJBK-TV in Southfield.
