Veteran journalist and long-time community member Mark Paxton
will take over as publisher and executive editor of the Pinnacle,
bringing his newspaper career full circle in the town he loves.
Hollister – Veteran journalist and long-time community member Mark Paxton will take over as publisher and executive editor of the Pinnacle, bringing his newspaper career full circle in the town he loves.
Paxton, 48, grew up in Hollister and worked as the executive editor of the Free Lance from 1985 to 1997. He said his first effort when he takes over in two weeks will be to connect with the paper’s readers and solicit their feedback. He said he will only change the editorial course of the paper where strictly necessary.
“It’s not my paper,” Paxton said. “The paper belongs to its readers and advertisers. You’re very much subject to the community’s needs if you’re going to be successful at what you do.”
He jumped at the opportunity after the Pinnacle’s editors, Anna Marie dos Remedios and Tracie Cone, asked him to take their place about three weeks ago, he said. About a week later, executives with Mainstreet Media Group, which bought the Pinnacle almost a year ago, officially offered Paxton the job and he gladly accepted it, he said.
Although the new job will mean leaving his current job at Educational Data Systems in Morgan Hill, the chance to once again work where he lives and even ride his bike to work overshadows any bittersweet feelings, he said.
Another factor for Paxton was his eagerness to get back into the world of community journalism.
“Newspapers are an unusual institution. People talk about ‘my paper’ all the time. People have tremendous membership in community newspapers and I really like that,” he said. “It’s a huge responsibility but it’s fun.”
The change brings his newspaper career in Hollister full circle. After leaving the Free Lance to go into education, he said putting his editor’s hat back on for another paper in the same town would be unusual any place other than Hollister.
“Down here where we come from these things can happen,” he said. “It’s a small town, and we all tend to move in overlapping circles.”
Cone compared her decision to resign as publisher to a mother deciding to give her child up for adoption, and said only one thing in her life could take precedence over the publication she loved – her family.
Her father is battling prostate cancer, and she said she needs to be able to devote all her time to him instead of trying to split it between supporting him and her mother and running a newspaper.
Remedios, who worked as general manager and took the paper over with Cone, chose to resign to be with Cone during this trying time.
Cone said she will still write a column for the paper as time allows, but Remedios won’t have any further role with the publication.
The difficult decision came with one perk – leaving it in good hands, Cone said.
“Mark’s great – he cares about the environment and the way this community develops, which are the two main things the Pinnacle has pushed for,” she said. “And he knows the community. He’s got long ties and he cares about it. You want to make sure you’ve got the right person before you do something like this.”
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or em*******@fr***********.com
Does Doddie Panel still work there? She’s an old friend