Announcing Salem-News.com's Revamped Leadership

The online news group shakes the dust off its boots and restructures from within.

Publisher Bonnie King enjoys the beauty of the Willamette River, Salem, Oregon. Photo by Sean King

(SALEM, Ore.) - Salem-News.com has been going through some big changes as of late, including staff restructuring and I would like to share some insight into what you can expect from Salem-News.com going forward.

Always, Salem-News.com remains committed to Truth, Justice & Peace, offering quality content that matters from notable writers and correspondents around the world. The overall look of the site and certain dynamics of our news product are evolving, as you will see in the next few weeks.

The most immediate change is in leadership. Tim King will no longer be serving as Executive News Editor. This is for reasons beyond the scope of this article, as it is not appropriate to discuss details of some business decisions publicly; privacy should be respected. I am confident that Tim will carry on with the important projects he is invested in including Operation Red Dragonfly and the very worthwhile support of our veterans. (If you would like to correspond with Tim King, his email is: reddragonfly80@yahoo.com)

Taking his place will be a small group of Editors with me, Publisher Bonnie King, at the helm, for the time being. By working together we will see Salem-News continue to develop and grow without interruption.

Many staff writers and longtime readers will recall that I filled the Editor role for months while Tim went to Afghanistan and then later Iraq, embedded with the military. Additionally, I have been the only consistent presence within the Salem community since the beginning.

The life-blood of Salem-News.com is our writers. They bring to light subjects that cannot be learned anywhere else in many cases. Readers learn, every time they open Salem-News.com. Enlightening our fellow man to the reality of the consequences of our individual actions and those of our governments, etc. has been a rewarding experience for all of us at Salem-News.

Most of our writers are committed to Salem-News.com, but there will be some people leaving while others are coming on board throughout this time of transition. It is nature taking its course.

Our coverage of in-depth issues (i.e. Israeli-Palestinian conflict; Infant circumcision; the War on Drugs; Veteran Support; Women’s Rights; Taking on Big Pharma; Rwanda’s Fight for Life; the Sri Lanka/Tamil genocide; and much, much more) will continue with a concentration on solutions, source fact-checking and making information available for ongoing reader-research.

Our IT Guru, Matt Lintz, remains a constant pillar of strength and source of many miracles, keeping Salem-News.com on its feet throughout all the ups and downs of carving out a “never before” online news group.

A new team of volunteers, the Salem-News Regulators, is coming together. They are our own posse of good guys!

Regulators are talented people on all ends of the journalistic and technology spectrums. These are volunteer positions, for the length of time each individual has to offer. Participating can add valuable sparkle to your current work experience.

We are looking for Regulator team members now. It doesn’t matter where you are, everything we do is electronic and the last thing to limit our ability to work together is physicality.

WANTED:

• Graphic Artists to create headers, layouts, promos, client ads, and more.
• Photographers (still & video) for special events, breaking news, and citizen reporting.
• Video Editors/Producers
• Marketing/Sales people that want to get in on the fastest growing industry on the planet. (Great commission!)
• Special Section Editors: Sports, the Arts, Entertainment/Music, Education, the Environment, local Happenings and Events, the Political or Financial arena, Outdoors
• Technical assistants

If you are interested in joining the Salem-News Regulators, just drop me a line and let me know what you can do and what your qualifications are. We will internally review the requests and extend invitations.

Raising the Bar:

The Salem-News Comments section will take an immediate “about face”. No longer will the Comments be a place for debate with the Editor. No longer will name-calling, vulgarity or threatening tones be allowed. We manually approve comments, unlike most news sites. I expect comments to be on topic and non-abusive, or they will not be published.

Articles will be less sensational and more focused, direct and to the point. You will see a new and improved “look”, and a consistent upgrading of all the products we bring to our readership, as well as several new programs to be unveiled in coming months.

Without fail, Salem-News.com will maintain our stance in exposing the lies and corruption around the world, as we hold fast in our belief that we can improve things, together. Human Rights belong to everyone.

Salem-News.com has an obligation to honor the contributions of the many volunteer writers, editors and photographers that have given of themselves, and others that have believed in us and stood by us over the last near-decade, by consistently delivering a news product that they can be proud to be a part of. That is our goal with these new standards.

Thank you for sticking with Salem-News.com; we are stuck on you, too.