Categories: OLD Media Moves

Reynolds Center director Bhatia leaving to run Cincy daily

Peter Bhatia, named earlier this year to be director of the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism at Arizona State University, is leaving to become editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer.

He was named director of the Reynolds Center in June, replacing Micheline Maynard, who left for family reasons. Maynard had been director of the center for about a year.

A story on the Enquirer website states, “Bhatia, 62, is the director of the Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism at Arizona State’s Cronkite School of Journalism. He joined the Cronkite school a year ago as a visiting professor in journalism ethics after a long and successful career at The Oregonian in Portland, where he was the paper’s editor.

“‘Peter brings a wealth of skills, values, experiences and an invigorated commitment to all-platform, high-quality journalism to The Enquirer. He’s an experienced, award-winning journalist who is a hands-on leader and coach,’ said John Zidich, president of Gannett Domestic Publishing, in a statement. ‘I know he is eager to join New Gannett and help steer us to new heights.’

“‘Peter will elevate the content we deliver to readers in The Enquirer, on Cincinnati.com and across our entire portfolio,’ said Rick Green, president and publisher of The Enquirer and regional president of Gannett’s 10 other Ohio newspapers. ‘Throughout his career, Peter and his newsrooms have done tremendous work on all platforms – print and digital – and I’m excited to bring his expertise and passion to Cincinnati. We are a very sophisticated, smart and active news market, and Peter and I have a shared commitment to elevate the content we provide to our readers.’

“Bhatia is the first journalist of South Asian descent to lead a major daily newspaper in the U.S., running The Oregonian from 2010 to 2014. He previously was the paper’s managing editor and executive editor, teaming with then-editor Sandra Mims Rowe. Rowe and Bhatia were named editors of the year by Editor & Publisher magazine in 2008. The Oregonian won six Pulitzer Prizes during his tenure.”