The Lebanon Daily News has a new editorial chief following the departure of Gannett’s central Pennsylvania editor.
Longtime York Daily Record journalist Randy Parker announced this week that he had left after 33 years working for the paper. Parker had been appointed as central Pennsylvania executive editor in 2019 following the retirement of former editor Jim McClure. In that role, he oversaw the company’s central Pennsylvania outlets, including the Lebanon Daily News, York Daily Record, and the Evening Sun in Hanover.
The Lebanon Daily News does not list an editor in its print edition or on its website and, following McClure’s departure in 2019, it was a bit of a puzzle at first as to who was filling the role.
Read More: Who is running the Lebanon Daily News?
This time the succession plans are more clear. In a news article about Parker’s departure, the York Daily Record reported that Scott Fisher, a regional editor for Gannett, will step in to fill Parker’s role on an interim basis.
Parker’s departure comes as Gannett is trimming its newsrooms due to “dismal second quarter results,” according to industry publication Poynter, which reported that more than 50 journalists across the country were laid off by the Tysons Corner-based newspaper chain on Friday, Aug. 12.
None of those layoffs took place at Gannett’s central Pennsylvania papers, according to the Daily Record’s story on Parker’s departure, which occurred on the same day as the downsizing.
“I’m happy to report that after more than 30 years with York Daily Record, I am now looking for the next great challenge in life,” said Parker in a LinkedIn post on Tuesday, Aug. 16.
Parker told the Daily Record that it was the right time in his personal life to leave the company, and that with his kids out of college he felt that he was young enough and had enough energy to start something new.
“It was a long time to be with one organization,” said Parker to his former paper. “It was time to make a change.”
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