Washington Post hires DiMesio as biz news assignment editor

Washington Post business editor David Cho and deputy business editor Zachary Goldfarb sent out the following announcement on Friday:

We are pleased to announce that Robbie DiMesio, the public interest editor at the Oregonian, will join us as an assignment editor overseeing the Business Department’s breaking news and general assignment team.

In this role, Robbie will be tasked with identifying the most important and interesting business stories of the day and moving aggressively to make sure our business report is compelling and urgent. She also will be a key liaison to other departments in the newsroom.

At the Oregonian, Robbie has led a team focused on state government, politics, business and the economy. After joining the newspaper in 2001, she was an assignment editor on the business, breaking news and metro desks. She oversaw the newsroom’s coverage of the 2018 elections, which featured a competitive governor’s race and significant ballot measures. She edited a series that exposed corruption at the Oregon Department of Energy, leading to two criminal convictions and the resignation of the agency’s chief financial officer. She also oversaw an explanatory series on the controversial relationship between the sneaker industry — Nike and Adidas North America are based in Oregon — and high school and collegiate sports. And she was part of the award-winning breaking-news team that covered the 41-day occupation of an Oregon wildlife refuge by armed militants in 2016.

A native Californian with an adult son, Robbie previously worked at the Fresno Bee and graduated with a degree in journalism from California State University, Fresno.

Robbie will take up her new role at The Post on Feb. 19. Please give her a hearty welcome.