Prior to Phoenix, she served in various editing positions at The Kansas City (Mo.) Star. Johnson also worked at the Joplin (Mo.) Globe, the Binghamton (N.Y.) Evening Press and The Kansas City (Mo.) Times.

She has been most active in APME, including serving as president in 1999-2000 after a number of years on the ladder and as chair of several committees, including program chair for the Philadelphia conference in 1994. A key commitment of her presidency was to have APME and ASNE work in concert on the important issues of diversity and credibility. The Time-Out for Diversity and Accuracy in 1999 was a centerpiece of joint ASNE/APME activity.

She is on advisory groups that work with the Freedom Forum Pacific Coast Center and the Foundation for American Communications. She was a founding member of the Journalism and Women’s Symposium and is active with the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education.

ASNE activities: As an ASNE member since 1989, Johnson has served on several committees: Future of Newspapers, Readership, Minorities, Bulletin, Freedom of Information, Membership, and Change. She also served on the Writing Awards Board and been a member of the Journalism Credibility Think Tank. She is currently on the Diversity and Ethics and Values committees.

*Karla Garrett Harshaw, editor, Springfield (Ohio) News-Sun

Aspirations for ASNE: ASNE faces the challenge of being responsive to a nation that is transforming dramatically. Demographic shifts are resulting in a population that is much more diverse by race and ethnicity. Young people will gain ground as the baby boomer generation passes on. Technologies are posing opportunities and threats to newspapers as we struggle to determine how to use new media to expand our reach.

Vision, courage and tenacity will be critical to the membership of ASNE as we forge into the new millennium and position newspapers to address those changes. I hope that ASNE will be at the forefront of making diversity real in our newsrooms and our printed pages and that technology, chosen carefully, will be used as a tool to reach new readers in new ways.

Career: Harshaw began her career in Dayton, Ohio, writing for a community paper at age 13. She joined the Dayton Daily News on a part-time basis in high school and worked through the ranks of reporting, newsroom management and overall newspaper administration before joining the News-Sun in 1990. She graduated from the Cox Executive Leadership Program in 1998. Professional affiliations include the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education board, the Foundation for American Communications journalism programs advisory board and the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. She is also a member of the National Association of Minority Media Executives and the National Association of Black Journalists.

ASNE activities: Harshaw is chair of this year’s Convention Program Committee. She has also chaired the Education for Journalism and Ethics and Values committees, and is currently a member of ASNE’s Journalism Credibility Think Tank and the Writing Awards Board. She also has served on the Literacy and Minorities committees. She joined ASNE in 1992 and was elected to the board in 1995.

*Kenneth F. Bunting, executive editor, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Aspirations for ASNE: Newspaper editors in the 21st century must, at once, be stewards of time-tested traditions and facilitators of rapid change. ASNE must continue to lead on the issue of credibility and in sounding the rallying cry for diverse staffing in our newsrooms and diverse perspectives on our news pages.

Newspapers should be tools of good citizenship, and for coping with everyday life in a changing world. We must continually strive to earn reader trust by producing newspapers that are reliable, helpful and relevant. Technology and the changing media environment are much less threats, than they are opportunities for synergy with online complements that can make our products more complete and interactive.

Career: Bunting was named to his current job in January, after seven years as the P-I’s managing editor. In addition to the content of the newspaper, he is responsible for its online component, Seattlep-i.com. He is also on the executive committee and editorial board of the newspaper.

Before coming to Seattle, Bunting served in various managerial positions at the Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram. Prior to that, he worked nearly 30 years as a newspaper journalist at the Los Angeles Times, the San Antonio Express-News, The Cincinnati Post, The Sacramento (Calif.) Bee and the Corpus Christi (Texas) Caller-Times.

ASNE activities: He is chair of the 1999-2000 Education for Journalism Committee. Since joining ASNE in 1994, he also has served on the Convention Program, Ethics and Minorities committees. He was a floor manager during two conventions and an election judge in 1998.

*Wanda S. Lloyd, Managing Editor/ Features, Administration and Planning, The Greenville (S.C.) News

Aspirations for ASNE: My hope for ASNE is to help make the organization more useful to members and the organizations we represent. Our programs need to help us become better managers, better editors and better journalists, which, of course, makes for better and more relevant newspapers that serve diverse audiences. We face a lot of challenges as we strive to retain readers and customers, and to reflect our communities. I want ASNE to help members cope with these challenges, and provide avenues for personal and professional growth.

Career: Before joining The Greenville (S.C.) News in 1996, Lloyd was senior editor/days and administration at USA Today. Previously, she worked at the Providence (R.I.) Evening Bulletin, The Miami Herald, The Atlanta Journal and The Washington Post. While with the Post, she was deputy Washington editor for the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service.

ASNE activities: She is currently chair of the Diversity Committee. She has also chaired the Human Resources and Nominations committees and co-chaired the ASNE Bulletin Editorial Board. She has worked on the Convention Program and People with Disabilities committees and the Writing Awards Board, and served as a floor manager, press chair and election judge. She was editor of The ASNE Reporter in 1992. Lloyd has been a member of ASNE since 1989 and was elected to the board in 1997.

* Linda C. Lightfoot, executive editor, The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La.

Aspirations for ASNE: ASNE should take the lead in fostering public understanding and acceptance of the role of a free press in our communities, our country and abroad. We must preserve and promote those values and principles that enable us to earn the trust and respect of our readers.

Career: Lightfoot has worked for The Advocate (or its predecessors) for 31 years, serving as its executive editor since 1991. She has been Freedom of Information chair for the Louisiana Press Association since 1989.

ASNE activities: She has chaired the Press, Bar and Public Affairs Committee, the election judges and co-chaired The American Editor Committee. She has been a longtime member of the Freedom of Information Committee and also served on the Nominations Committee. Lightfoot joined ASNE in 1988 and was elected to the board in 1996.
 
Jane Amari, editor and publisher, The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson

Aspirations for ASNE: No matter how well we tell our stories, if our readers desert us, we have accomplished nothing. ASNE’s ongoing studies of readership and credibility are critical to helping us satisfy the expectations of our readers. We look to ASNE for leadership once we have identified critical credibility problems. We are in an ideal position to guide the industry to standards better in touch with our public.

But a rainbow of different people comprises that public as we live in an increasingly more diverse world. Readers and potential readers must be able to find themselves in our pages and hear themselves in our news columns. ASNE must continue to set and strive for ambitious diversity goals. More than setting goals, ASNE should work with papers on innovative methods of attracting and retaining minority journalists.

And finally, we need to turn the creative thinking that often guides our newsrooms to new products and new ways to remain the best source of information for our readers. The world is constantly changing. We must change with it or risk being left behind. We need to constantly explore new business opportunities, partnerships and nontraditional ways of doing things. ASNE is in an ideal position to lead this charge.

Career: Amari has been editor and publisher of the Arizona Daily Star since November. Prior to that she was executive editor of The News Journal in Wilmington, Del., for two years.

Before Wilmington, she served as senior vice president and as managing editor of The Kansas City (Mo.) Star, where she helped develop kansascity.com, the Star’s portal Web site.

Earlier, she was managing editor of the Daily News of Los Angeles and the Rockford (Ill.) Register Star. During 32 years in the newspaper industry, she has held staff management positions with Times Mirror, Knight Ridder and the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times.

Amari has taught journalism at  several colleges including the University of Southern California, UCLA and the University of Kansas.

ASNE activities: Amari currently chairs the Interactive Media Committee and is a member of the Coverage and Content Committee. In years past, she served on the Readership Issues, Literacy, Future of Newspapers, Minorities, Membership, Education for Journalism and Change committees. She joined ASNE in 1988.

Earl R. Maucker, editor, Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
 
Aspirations for ASNE: This organization should provide the vision and sense of purpose for newspaper editors struggling to position themselves and their newspapers for the future. ASNE will need to direct more of its energies toward a broader approach to multimedia, and a more complete understanding of the technologies that are radically changing our business. But, ASNE must never lose sight of its fundamental purpose: serving as a beacon for journalistic principles and core values of integrity, honesty and diversity.

Career: Maucker has been editor of the Sun-Sentinel since 1994. He previously served as managing editor of the paper. He originally came to Florida as managing editor of the Fort Lauderdale News, having previously worked at the Springfield (Mo.) Daily News and Rockford (Ill.) Morning Star. He began his newspaper career as an apprentice printer with The Telegraph in Alton, Ill. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1966 to 1969. Maucker served on the APME board of directors and is currently treasurer of the Inter American Press Association.

ASNE activities: Currently, he is co-chair of The American Editor Committee. Next year, he will co-chair the 2001 Convention Program Committee. He’s been an ASNE member since 1985, and  served on the Ethics, Human Resources, International and New Media and Values committees.

Paul C. Tash, editor and president, St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times
 
Aspirations for ASNE: Through its various efforts, ASNE should identify and encourage excellence in American journalism, especially newspapers. It should be a forum for discussion and debate about the state of our craft, and it should provide a clear and consistent voice on behalf of freedom of information and expression. At its conventions, ASNE should introduce its members to interesting and provocative people and ideas, so that they return to their posts with an enlarged vision of the world and fresh vigor for the privileged work of describing it.

Career: Tash was just named editor and president of the Times, after spending his entire career at the paper. He started as a local news reporter in 1978 and worked his way through a variety of reporting and editing jobs. He was the newspaper’s Washington bureau chief in 1992 when he was named executive editor. He is a trustee of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies and a director of various groups devoted to freedom of information and expression.

ASNE activities: As chair of the Freedom of Information Committee for the past two years, Tash testified before Congress against a bill that would have exposed press photographers to criminal penalties, wrote against the proposed flag amendment, and represented ASNE at a 1999 international conference on press freedom in Madrid. He also has served on the Literacy and Ethics committees and on the Writing Awards Board. He has been a member of ASNE since 1993.

Anders Gyllenhaal, executive editor, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.
 
Aspirations for ASNE: ASNE needs to work on many fronts at once, from leading on First Amendment conflicts to attracting the foremost thinkers of the day to the convention. But when you get down to how this organization will be measured, it’s simple: How much do we help editors strengthen their newspapers? We need to take on the difficult issues and offer strategies that can be put promptly to work in newsrooms. We need to help editors find their way through the multiple challenges of increasing quality, building readership, inventing new parts of the paper and outsmarting our digital competitors. And we need to do that with an enthusiasm and spark that constantly remind those around us what a vital and rewarding profession this is.

Career: Gyllenhaal has been executive editor of the N&O for four years, after stints as managing editor and metro editor. He joined Raleigh in 1990 from The Miami Herald, where he worked for 12 years as a reporter, a member of the investigative team and as an editor.

ASNE activities: He will chair the Freedom of Information Committee for the next two years and is planning a project on “the future of public records,” exploring the struggle over open records in the unpredictable electronic age. Gyllenhaal joined ASNE in 1995 and, in addition to FOI, has served on the News Content Committee and as a floor manager.

Joe Distelheim, editor, The Huntsville (Ala.) Times

Aspirations for ASNE: Newspapers’ challenge is change: In the diversity of our readership (and nonreadership), in the technology we and our readers use to gather and deliver information, in the way Americans regard their newspapers. ASNE’s major task is to help our newspapers understand and reflect and explain these changes. At the same time, ASNE must be a force in maintaining and explaining the traditional principles of our profession. Small and medium-sized newspapers have a distinct avenue along which to pursue these goals; I’d like to give voice to their needs in ASNE.

Career: Editor of The Huntsville Times since 1994, Distelheim was previously executive editor of The Anniston (Ala.) Star. Before that, he worked in various editing and reporting capacities for the Detroit Free Press (with a year out as a John S. Knight fellow), The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer and The News-Journal, Wilmington, Del. He is currently president of the Alabama Press Association Journalism Foundation.

ASNE activities: Distelheim was a charter member of ASNE’s Small Newspapers Committee and has been an active member of the Convention Program and American Editor committees. In addition, he served as a floor manager and has been an election judge (but not this year).