SACRAMENTO - The Sacramento Bee on Monday named a new publisher to guide the newspaper as it struggles with declining revenue and tries to extend its reach on the Internet.
Cheryl Dell, president and publisher of The News Tribune of Tacoma, Wash., will replace Janis Heaphy, who announced her retirement Monday.
Both papers are owned by The McClatchy Co. of Sacramento, which has been struggling financially since it acquired Knight Ridder newspapers in 2006.
The newspaper industry in general has seen declines in circulation and ad revenue in recent years, as readers and advertisers have migrated to the Internet. The Bee has been hit especially hard by the downturn in California's real estate market, which has had ripples through the state's economy.
"We are indeed fortunate to have someone of Cheryl's considerable abilities ready to step in and lead the Bee," McClatchy Vice President Frank Whittaker said in a statement.
Dell will head her third McClatchy newspaper when she takes over on April 14.
She has been president and publisher of The News Tribune since 2004 and was publisher of the Tri-City Herald, also in Washington, from 2000 to 2004. McClatchy said it is looking for Dell's replacement in Tacoma.
Dell said it was too soon to predict what changes she might make at the Bee or whether that could involve reorganization or job losses.
"It's challenging times everywhere. Sacramento is not unique in that way," she said in a telephone interview. "I do think you can have some wonderful outcomes from adversity."
Dell, 48, is a Modesto native and graduate of Sacramento State University. She joined McClatchy in 1997 as advertising director of The Modesto Bee. She became vice president of sales and marketing at The Fresno Bee in 1999.
Heaphy, 56, became The Sacramento Bee's publisher in 1998 after a marketing career at the Los Angeles Times. She is getting married and said she plans to move to Sun Valley, Idaho.
"Under Janis' direction, The Sacramento Bee earned many of journalism's highest awards, while enthusiastically embracing digital opportunities," Whittaker said in announcing the change. "In many of those years, the Bee achieved record revenues. In the last several years, Janis has made many wise decisions to reposition and restructure the Bee to meet new economic challenges. That's a credit to her and the senior team she built around her."
McClatchy Co. is the nation's third largest newspaper company, with 31 daily newspapers among its holdings.
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