The Fresno Bee names senior editor. ‘It’s about serving the readers with local news’
Christopher Kirkpatrick has been hired as senior editor at The Fresno Bee.
The Detroit native is a longtime reporter and newsroom manager with a history in investigative journalism.
As the senior news director at the Detroit Free Press, he helped manage 120 journalists, editing daily coverage and long-range investigations. During his stint in Ohio at the Toledo Blade, he was one of the lead reporters on the “Coingate” investigation, which uncovered financial corruption in state government. The story led to several indictments and was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in 2006.
Most recently, Kirkpatrick was deputy director of Content Development at Consumer Reports, where he led the team responsible for the outlet’s enterprise and investigative journalism.
He will be moving with his family to Fresno from New York. His first day at The Bee is July 10.
“The Central Valley is just such a vital, culturally rich part of the country,” Kirkpatrick told The Bee on Monday.
“It’s an exciting place to continue the pursuit of great journalism.”
Kirkpatrick was drawn to the job because The Bee — and its parent company, McClatchy — has a long and visible commitment to local news. “That’s really what’s in danger across the county,” he said.
It’s also the very thing that people are looking for out of their news outlets, whether that’s in Detroit, Toledo or Fresno.
“They want to find good reasons to feel passionate and proud,” Kirkpatrick said.
“It’s about serving the readers with local news.”
Joe Kieta departs
The announcement of the hire comes as The Bee says goodbye to two of its top editors.
Executive editor Joe Kieta announced his departure from the news outlet in March. He had been in the position since 2018 and was featured on Editor and Publisher’s list of 2023 Editors Extraordinaire. His last day was June 9.
Managing editor John Rich also retired from The Bee last week. He had been with the paper for nearly 40 years and held a variety of positions in the newsroom, including metro editor and sports editor.
Kirkpatrick will report to Don Blount, whom McClatchy announced as its Central Valley executive editor in February.
Blount previously was executive editor at the Stockton Record.
In his role with McClatchy, Blount oversees newsrooms in Fresno, Modesto and Merced.
