Watson will join the Alton Telegraph, a seven-day newspaper, as executive editor. He will start in early April.
The paper is owned by Civitas Media, which owns about 100 newspapers, based in Davidson, N.C.
It represents a return to daily newspaper leadership for Watson. He has held top news positions in Peabody, Mass.; Waterville, Maine; and Augusta, Maine. He also was managing editor of the Portland (Maine) Press Herald, as part of a 42-year career in newspapers, education and associations.
Watson was executive director of SABEW from September 2009 until July 1, 2014.
He is the author of “Surviving Journalism,” to be published by Marion Street Press later this year.
Chris RoushChris 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.
