Virginian-Pilot biz editor to take new job for paper

Bill Choyke, the business editor at The Virginian-Pilot, will become director of community news at the paper at the end of July, according to an internal announcement. He will oversee six local publications.

No replacement has been named yet.

Choyke, who is a board member of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, tells Talking Biz News, “It’s a good opportunity, and I look forward to broadening the appeal of our community newspapers, and that includes more business news.”

Choyke began his professional career at his hometown newspaper in Waukegan, Ill., after graduating from Ohio University in Athens. He moved to Washington, D.C., in 1975, and provided coverage in the nation’s capital for a number of Texas newspapers, including The Dallas Morning News from 1981 to 1989.

Awarded a Batten Fellowship at The Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia, he received his MBA in 1991. Choyke joined Gannett Co. in 1993 as marketing director for its newspaper in Iowa City, Iowa, and moved back to the newsroom in 1995, serving primarily in Nashville as an editor, including assistant managing editor for business. He assumed his current duties as business editor of The Virginian-Pilot in March 2003.