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A journalism veteran who worked his way up through the ranks of the Rockford Register Star for 19 years becomes the newspaper’s top editor Monday.
It’s a role Doug Gass has already filled on an interim basis since May, when Executive Editor Linda Grist Cunningham retired. But Gass was ultimately chosen after a national search as Cunningham’s permanent successor.
“I believe Doug is the right leader for the right time,” Publisher Peter Ricker said. “I have had the pleasure of working with him since I was hired, in his role as managing editor and now as interim editor the past six months, and, in that experience, he has done a lot of great things.”
In Gass, Ricker has tapped a man whose journalism career spans three decades.
Gass, 51, got his start as a reporter and editor for newspapers in Iowa and Wisconsin in the early 1980s. He settled in Rockford in 1992 with his wife, Debbie, deputy director for human resources at the Rockford Park District.
They raised two daughters here and have become part of the community.
But they had no idea they were moving here to stay, Gass said. He had worked for four newspapers in the previous 10 years, so he assumed he would be moving on at some point. But then Gass began to work his way up from the copy desk to become the assistant news editor in 1994, features editor in 1995 and by 2001 became part of the upper management team.
At some point, Gass realized that Rockford wasn’t another stop in his career. It was home.
“We have challenges,” Gass said. “I have lived in other communities, though, and other communities have the same challenges. I think people here get caught up in things and think this is only happening in Rockford, and that’s not the case. I mean, we have potholes everywhere. And there are school challenges in every city.”
Doing more digital
Gass has already served as a steady newsroom leader through challenging economic times. Now he plans to push the newspaper further into a digital age in which readers demand news content across technologies emerging at a rapid pace.
Register Star journalists are already using social media to report news and interact with readers on Twitter, Facebook and blogs. Gass said the Register Star will remain the dominant source for news in the region.
He plans to refine digital content for smartphones, tablets and other emerging technologies while maintaining a print product that is the Register Star’s bread and butter.
A journalism veteran who worked his way up through the ranks of the Rockford Register Star for 19 years becomes the newspaper’s top editor Monday.
It’s a role Doug Gass has already filled on an interim basis since May, when Executive Editor Linda Grist Cunningham retired. But Gass was ultimately chosen after a national search as Cunningham’s permanent successor.
“I believe Doug is the right leader for the right time,” Publisher Peter Ricker said. “I have had the pleasure of working with him since I was hired, in his role as managing editor and now as interim editor the past six months, and, in that experience, he has done a lot of great things.”
In Gass, Ricker has tapped a man whose journalism career spans three decades.
Gass, 51, got his start as a reporter and editor for newspapers in Iowa and Wisconsin in the early 1980s. He settled in Rockford in 1992 with his wife, Debbie, deputy director for human resources at the Rockford Park District.
They raised two daughters here and have become part of the community.
But they had no idea they were moving here to stay, Gass said. He had worked for four newspapers in the previous 10 years, so he assumed he would be moving on at some point. But then Gass began to work his way up from the copy desk to become the assistant news editor in 1994, features editor in 1995 and by 2001 became part of the upper management team.
At some point, Gass realized that Rockford wasn’t another stop in his career. It was home.
“We have challenges,” Gass said. “I have lived in other communities, though, and other communities have the same challenges. I think people here get caught up in things and think this is only happening in Rockford, and that’s not the case. I mean, we have potholes everywhere. And there are school challenges in every city.”
Doing more digital
Gass has already served as a steady newsroom leader through challenging economic times. Now he plans to push the newspaper further into a digital age in which readers demand news content across technologies emerging at a rapid pace.
Register Star journalists are already using social media to report news and interact with readers on Twitter, Facebook and blogs. Gass said the Register Star will remain the dominant source for news in the region.
He plans to refine digital content for smartphones, tablets and other emerging technologies while maintaining a print product that is the Register Star’s bread and butter.
“We have to do more to get digital content out there. We have to connect with readers. The model of throwing it on the front porch and having people come to us isn’t going to be the way we go. We have to reach out to people, we have to find them and get our content to them.”
And that push will come even as a struggling economy across the Rock River Valley and disruptive technologies leave the Register Star with fewer resources.
Changes and credibility
To cut costs, the Register Star was forced to lay off staff over the summer, reconfigure the newspaper into a two-section format and consolidate delivery desk functions in Rockford for the Register Star and the Freeport Journal-Standard.
But even as the newspaper pushes to connect more with readers in a digital age, it won’t sacrifice accuracy or credibility, Gass said.
“Local news is our franchise, but credibility is also our franchise,” Gass said. “We are trusted and we are credible because we take the time to get it right. And if there is an instance where we don’t have it right, we correct it right away.”
Editorial Page Editor Wally Haas was optimistic about Gass when he hired him as a young copy editor in 1993.
“I saw the promise in him even back then,” Haas said. “I knew he would rise to greater things. Congratulations, and I wish him well.”
Reach staff writer Jeff Kolkey at jkolkey@rrstar.com or 815-987-1374.
Profile: Doug Gass
Title: Executive editor
Age: 51
Born: Des Moines, Iowa
Education: Bachelor’s degree in journalism, 1983, University of Iowa
Family: Wife, Debbie; daughters Rachael and Sarah.
Prior experience: Held a variety of reporting and editing positions from 1983 to 1993 at newspapers in Wisconsin and Iowa including the Marinette Eagle-Star, Beloit Daily News, Waterloo Courier and Cedar Rapids Gazette.
Rockford Register Star: Hired in February 1993 in Rockford as a news copy editor and worked his way up through the ranks, holding titles that included assistant news editor, features editor, assistant managing editor and deputy managing editor. Became managing editor in June 2008 and interim editor in May after the retirement of longtime Executive Editor Linda Grist Cunningham.
