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Craig Moon, the former publisher of USA Today, was named this morning as the new publisher at the Las Vegas Review-Journal, which has been making nearly as much news as it has been reporting in recent weeks.
According to the story in the R-J, former publisher Jason Taylor is moving to an executive position with Gatehouse Media, the company that owned the Review-Journal until it was sold to the Adelson family in December. Gatehouse has continued to operate the paper under a management agreement with the new owners.
Moon has an extensive newspaper background and has been working as a consultant since retiring from USA Today in 2009. He worked for Gannett for 23 years, and his departure apparently was something of a surprise.
According to the USA Today story when he took over there, Moon was president, then president and publisher of The Tennessean in Nashville from 1991. He also was president of the Piedmont Newspaper Group of Gannett.
According to the story, he joined Gannett in 1985 as vice president/advertising of The Cincinnati Enquirer and The Cincinnati Post. He also has been president and publisher of The News-Press in Fort Myers, FL. and of the Arkansas Gazette in Little Rock.
He has been the Newspaper Division’s advertising executive of the year, publisher of the year and Gannett’s manager of the year. He has been given a President’s Ring as a top Gannett publisher five times since 1992, USA Today reported.
For the Review-Journal, Moon becomes the sixth publisher in just over five years. Sherm Frederick stepped down in November 2010 after 18 years at the helm. The paper has sold twice since then, with management changes accompanying each of the sales.