Career: Finney has been executive editor of the Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald for the past seven years. Before that he was managing editor of the Rocky Mountain News, Denver, deputy managing editor of the Star Tribune, Minneapolis, and managing editor of the Minneapolis Star. Prior to that he worked as executive editor of the Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald, managing editor of the Duluth (Minn.) News-Tribune and managing editor of the Bradenton (Fla.) Herald.

ASNE activities: He has been a member of ASNE since 1991. He has served on a number of committees, including The American Editor; Ethics and Values; Convention Program; Education for Journalism; Future of Newspapers; Issues; Membership; Minorities; and Press, Bar and Public Affairs. In 1996-97 he chaired the Literacy Committee, after serving on this committee for three previous years.

Aspirations for ASNE: ASNE must keep pushing the work started with the Journalism Values Institute. This means ASNE must encourage diversity in newsrooms, new approaches to doing our work and a more difficult, more inclusive journalism, one with more voices, one with concern, compassion and perspective. For this to be possible, journalists must have access to information, and the ASNE must continue its fight for people’s First Amendment rights.

• Ralph E. Langer, Editor, The Dallas Morning News

ASNE activities: He has served on ASNE’s Freedom of Information, Convention Program, and Membership committees and chaired the First Amendment Committee. He joined ASNE in 1969.

Aspirations for ASNE: ASNE must continue to grow its role as a valued resource to editors coping with the multitude of problems and opportunities facing all of us. ASNE’s service to editors comes from being vigorously focused on gathering and sharing information and experiences on the full range of things we work on and worry about, such as how to determine and serve needs of readers into the next century, growing circulation, diversifying newsrooms and newspapers, and managing change. I believe the future of our industry is directly linked to our credibility. And credibility comes from adhering to fundamental values that make journalism a public trust. ASNE’s Journalism Credibility Project is a major effort and needs to be nurtured to completion and thoroughly communicated to editors and the public.

Gregory L. Moore, Managing Editor, The Boston Globe

Career: Moore has been managing editor of the Globe since 1994, after holding a series of management positions at the newspaper. He joined the paper in 1986 after three years at the Dayton (Ohio) Journal Herald and six years at The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, his hometown newspaper. He was a founding member of the Cleveland chapter of NABJ.

ASNE activities: He joined ASNE in 1995. He served on the Freedom of Information Committee and the Convention Program Committee. He also served as editor of the 1996 convention newspaper, The ASNE Reporter.

Aspirations for ASNE: ASNE must help newspapers manage a number of important challenges today: How to really get good writing back into newspapers, which may require us to think differently about the kind of people we hire. We must talk more about whether our papers have become too safe and, as a result, less relevant. ASNE can lead the debate about managing the emerging 24-hour news cycle and a discussion about just what are the boundaries of journalistic inquiry when it comes to the people we cover — whether in public or private life. We need to figure out how to better manage the careers of employees and find a way to take full advantage of a diverse work force. We should rally our forces around these and other issues and I am looking forward to being a part of the agenda-setting business of this organization.

Stanley R. Tiner, Editor, Mobile (Ala.) Register

Career: Tiner has been in the newspaper business almost all his life. He got his start as a first-grade correspondent for the Cotton Valley (La.) Wildcat. He was combat correspondent for the U.S. Marines in Vietnam in 1965-66. He has been an editor for newspapers in Texarkana, Texas, Minden, La. and Shreveport, La. He has edited the Mobile Register since 1992.

ASNE activities: A longtime floor manager, he has served on The American Editor; Convention Program; Freedom of Information; Membership; and Press, Bar committees. He is currently Freedom of Information Committee chair. He has been an ASNE member since 1974.

Aspirations for ASNE: My primary goal would be to support programs emphasizing the leadership role of editors within the modern newspaper structure — a role which I believe has been diminished in many organizations over the past several years. Furthermore, I would urge the board to make every effort to ensure that ASNE remains the pre-eminent organization representing the interests of journalism and newspapers in America. Toward that end we must aggressively market our organization both nationally and on the world scene. I fear we are becoming lost in a sea of committees and groups emerging in a new media age. We must not concede leadership in online journalism to others. To do so would jeopardize our future in terms of relevance and influence.

Jennie Buckner, Editor, The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer

Career: Buckner has been editor of the Observer since 1993. Before coming to Charlotte, she worked as Knight-Ridder‘s corporate vice president/news for four years. Prior to that, she worked at the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News, where she rose to managing editor/PM and the Detroit Free Press, where she held several editing positions.

ASNE activities: She chaired the Readership Issues Committee in 1997-98 and was vice chair of Future of Newspapers Committee. She has also served on the Human Resources Committee. She joined ASNE in 1982.

Aspirations for ASNE: ASNE should help editors smartly navigate the turbulent whitewater we all travel these days. ASNE can be our wise, courageous river guide by offering: ideas on meeting the challenges and opportunities of new media; deeper insights into ever-more demanding readers; more understanding of the opportunities (and risks) of rapid technological change. In a time of great change, we need a guide who can keep us on course, true to our values. ASNE is providing such guidance through the Journalism Values Institute, the current credibility initiatives and skill-building conferences. ASNE must help editors better lead change — so that our newsrooms aren’t overwhelmed and newspapers stay strong and credible.

David A. Zeeck, Executive Editor, The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash.

Career: Zeeck became executive editor of The News Tribune in 1994. Previously, he worked at The Kansas City (Mo.) Star for 20 years, as a reporter, assistant metro editor, metro editor, managing editor and executive editor.

ASNE activities: He joined ASNE in 1990 and has worked on the The Bulletin, Convention Program, and Minorities committees. He co-chaired the American Editor Committee in 1997-98. He has served as a convention floor manager, election judge and press room chair.

Aspirations for ASNE: ASNE must (a) help us produce newspapers that better serve our communities in a rapidly changing information and business environment and (b) lead the way for better public understanding of the First Amendment and our role in public life. Our newsrooms must bring new voices to our news pages and ASNE must serve editors in more and in different ways, especially at smaller newspapers. In a time when everyone with a computer and a modem can be a publisher, in an era that blurs news and infotainment, we need a strong ASNE that holds fast to our bedrock traditions, but leads the search for new ways of delivering a meaningful news report to readers.

James P. Herman, Managing Editor, Wausau (Wis.) Daily Herald

Career: Herman has been managing editor of the Wausau Daily Herald since 1995. Previously, he was managing editor at the Rockford (Ill.) Register Star and news executive at Ottaway Newspapers in Campbell Hall, N.Y. He has also worked as reporter, city editor, managing editor, and editor at the Traverse City (Mich.) Record-Eagle and as a reporter at the Petoskey (Mich.) News-Review. He is a former president of Michigan Associated Press.

ASNE activities: A member of ASNE since 1981, he founded the Small Newspapers Committee and has served on and chaired the Membership Committee, and three years on the Writing Awards Board. He has also been a board member, convention floor manager for two years and coordinator of ASNE’s Excellence in Small Newspaper studies (1989-91).

Aspirations for ASNE: ASNE provides an excellent forum to address issues facing the leaders of the newspaper industry. If elected, I would be honored to help continue the excellent work ASNE has done in the past. I would continue to enjoy and learn from formal and informal discussions about what we do as editors. As a board member, my efforts would focus on two professional needs: How we can improve as editors; and, what we can do to make our newspapers more useful and informative for readers and potential readers.

• Edward W. Jones, Managing Editor, The Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg, Va.

ASNE activities: A member of ASNE since 1990, Jones has worked on a number of committees, including FOI, Literacy, Convention Program, Ethics and Values, New Media, and Small Newspapers. He chaired the Convention Program Committee in 1997-98 and has served as a floor manager.

Aspirations for ASNE: After one year on the ASNE board and what seems like a decade (though an exhilarating one) as convention program chair for 1998, I am excited about an array of ongoing ASNE initiatives, particularly on the issue of media credibility. My goals for the Society reflect my background as a proud member of a dwindling breed. I have spent my career at a family-owned, independent, small daily in my hometown of Fredericksburg, Va. Yet I also have had the opportunity to serve in a variety of national roles. That experience convinces me that ASNE should offer programs and conventions that focus on the basics of journalism, but that also inspire editors to think big. High on my priority list, in addition to media credibility, are leadership skills, staying ahead of the expertise curve, public affairs journalism and shrinking newsholes. More regional meetings would be a great help to the editors of smaller newspapers.

Paul C. Tash, executive editor, St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times

Career: Tash started at the Times as a local news reporter in 1978. He also has been Tallahassee reporter, city editor, metropolitan editor and Washington bureau chief for the Times. He is active in First Amendment issues, as a trustee of the Florida First Amendment Foundation and a director of the Inter-American Press Association.

ASNE activities: He is the incoming chair of the Freedom of Information Committee. In addition to the FOI Committee, he has served on the Literacy and Ethics committees and the Writing Awards Board. He has been a member of ASNE since 1993.

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.

Robert G. McGruder, Executive Editor, Detroit Free Press

Career: McGruder started at the Free Press in 1986 as deputy managing editor. Since then, he has been managing editor/news, managing editor and executive editor. Before going to Detroit, he worked for more than 20 years at The Plain Dealer, Cleveland. McGruder is a former president of APME. Among the organizations on whose boards he has served are the Foundation for American Communications and the American Press Institute. He also is co-author of "Promises of Power," the biography of Carl Stokes, the first black mayor of a major U.S. city. He served in the U.S. Army.

ASNE activities: A member of ASNE since 1983, McGruder has served on the editorial board of The Bulletin, on the Convention Program and Future of Newspapers committees, and as an election judge. He chaired the Education for Journalism Committee.

Aspirations for ASNE: How do I build and manage a diverse newsroom? How do I bring more depth to the reporting and more style to the writing in my newspaper? How do I get a young reporter on the right path and keep a veteran challenged? How do I capture and keep readers? How can my newspaper grow revenue for my bosses and value for my readers? How do I maintain the standards, goals and principles that brought me here in the first place? How do I make this fun again? I want ASNE to help me answer these questions.

Frank M. Denton, Editor, Wisconsin State Journal, Madison

Career: Denton has been editor of the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison for 12 years. During the previous 10 years, he held a variety of editing positions at the Detroit Free Press, culminating as assistant managing editor for news. Earlier in his 32-year career, he was a reporter for the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman, a Texas capitol news service, The Anniston (Ala.) Star and The Cincinnati Enquirer. He is a founding director of New Directions for News.

ASNE activities: He joined ASNE in 1986. He has served on the Readership and Research and Future of Newspapers committees and is ASNE’s representative on the NAA Marketing Committee. He has chaired the Literacy Committee and will chair the Readership Issues Committee in 1998-99. He is a founding director of New Directions for News.

Aspirations for ASNE: With all of the pressures on newspapers and newspaper journalism, ASNE should be a major force in maintaining, and enhancing, the values, standards and ambitions of our free press. In adapting to new realities of lifestyle and technology, we have to work harder to be sure newspapers are an important part of the lives of our readers and our communities. The newspaper industry, and many people in the larger society, now are realizing the deep value of our journalism, and we must seize the opportunity for national leadership in democracy- and community-building. The convention can be valuable for sharing ideas and successes and discussing the great issues we face, and year-round, ASNE should contribute important work on credibility, readership, diversity and freedom of information.

Narda C. Zacchino, Associate Editor, Los Angeles Times

Career: Zacchino is associate editor and vice president of the Los Angeles Times, where she has served in various editorial positions since 1970 (reporter, Sacramento bureau chief, Orange County editor, deputy managing editor). She is a board member of L.A. Youth, the Los Angeles Times Fund and International Women’s Media Foundation. She was a creator and serves as co-chair of the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.

ASNE activities: A member since 1990, Zacchino has chaired the Diversity Committee and also served on the Convention Program, Future of Newspapers, Human Resources, International, and Readership and Research committees.

Aspirations for ASNE: The loss of readers to other media — or, even worse, to no news media at all — is of critical importance to the future of our industry as well as our country. The good news is that this trend can be reversed by paying closer attention to demographic and lifestyle changes. ASNE should help determine what would attract more readers among women, young people, and ethnic and racial minorities, and share that information with its members.