San Diego Union-Tribune names new editor: Jeff Light, VP for interactive at OC Register

San Diego Union-Tribune names new editor

SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Union-Tribune has named Jeff Light, vice president of the Orange County Register’s interactive division, as its new editor.

Light will bring his experience in both print and online journalism to the job, Union-Tribune President and Publisher Ed Moss said Thursday.

“People have heard us talk about our entrepreneurial and innovative spirit; Jeff embodies this, with boundless energy,” Moss said.

Light, 49, succeeds Karin Winner, who retired last year after 34 years at the paper.

In Light’s 17 years at the Register, he served as deputy editor of the paper’s Web site, was a member of the staff that won a Pulitzer Prize in 1996 and managed investigative teams that were Pulitzer finalists in 2004 and 2005.

Previously, he was a reporter and editor at Syracuse Newspapers and got a master’s degree in business administration from the University of California, Irvine.

“People’s appetite for news and their expectations for immediacy, relevance and quality are higher than ever,” Light said. “We need to have a Web-first model — and we also need to continue to produce an excellent newspaper.”

Platinum Equity LLC, a Beverly Hills investment firm, bought the Union-Tribune from Copley Press Inc. last year. Since the sale was announced in May, the paper has cut more than 300 jobs, and many top editors have resigned.

Light, who will also be vice president, will start work March 8.