Media News
A New Chapter for New West
We'll continue our unique coverage of news, keep the conversations going, and sponsor more of our popular conferences.
By Jonathan Weber, 1-21-10
It’s now been almost five years since we launched NewWest.Net, and I’m both happy and sad to announce today some important changes at the company.
Late last year, I was engaged in a conversation by a group of people who are creating a major new non-profit news organization for the San Francisco Bay Area. It is a very interesting venture, and they have recruited me to be the editor in chief of the project. The news about all this is being released today, and I expect you will read more about it in the future.
Personally, while I am very excited about the new venture, I am also very sad to be leaving Missoula and New West.
At the same time, I am very pleased to report that New West is well-positioned to continue bringing you a unique take on Western news, robust conferences, and the community conversation that you have all come to expect. I’m especially happy to announce that we have hired a new publisher, Lynn Ingham.
Lynn is a Butte native and a University of Montana Journalism School graduate who in recent years has been working in the Bay Area as an online sales and marketing executive. She is now relocating back to Montana, and we consider ourselves extraordinarily fortunate to have someone of Lynn’s talent and experience joining the team. I’m sure many of you will enjoy meeting her in the weeks and months to come.
New West’s incredibly devoted and talented staff - co-founder and editor Courtney Lowery, Outdoor editor Bill Schneider, senior editor Amy Linn, Boise editor Jill Kuraitis, Books editor Jenny Shank, Contributing Editor David Frey, Conference Manager Lucia Stewart, Art Director Patrick Gill, Webmaster Brian Fish, and office manager Terri Roberts - all remain on board. And we remain in our cozy home just across the parking lot from the Old Post.
I will be commuting to the Bay Area over the next several months and hope to have the chance to see all of my friends and colleagues here during that time. I am very grateful for all the support and friendship that so many of you have shown over the years. Please be in touch.
Good luck, man. You'll be missed but hopefully the journalism will remain the quality NewWest has provided in the past and that's the most important thing.
Comment By Allen M. Jones, 1-21-10Jonathan,
You've created a thoroughly admirable and increasingly-important news source for the West, a forum for liberals and conservatives, academics and average-Joes to come together and clash horns, to air out the region's laundry and try to find common ground. You've helped fill a void. I'm proud to have been a very small part of the enterprise.
Good luck in all new ventures....
Jonathan - We will miss you. You put your heart and soul into NewWest and it has made a difference in the Rockies and beyond. I look forward to hearing more about your new venture and wish you all the best. You leave a great legacy.
Comment By Mickey Garcia, 1-21-10Good luck in the Big and Expensive city by the Golden Gate and thanks for a job well done.
Comment By Cat, 1-21-10Congratulations. What an amazing opportunity. It's very exciting to see that non-profit news organizations are cropping up throughout the U.S., filling the gap left by limping newspapers, and appear to be sustainable - Yay!
New West has been a great source of news for me, as a former Montanan, and I'm confident that it will continue to be.
I do not doubt that you will bring your same commitment to news to this new venture in San Francisco. I'm excited to watch the progress.
Good luck to you Jonathan.
May I suggest that the new publisher consider reopening a Wyoming "desk" for NewWest? A lot goes on here of regional and national interest, actually, given the State's trollesque politics--our politicians are always putting their paws in their jaws in the most amusing ways.
RH
Good luck and best wishes Jonathan Weber.
Comment By Patia, 1-23-10Congrats and thanks for the great work you've done here.
Comment By Mary Huxtable, 1-24-10Jonathan, we wish you and the family the very best as you begin a new venture and phase of your life. You leave behind a project that is a credit to you and your knowledge of journalism and of your area of the County. New West has struggled and flourished and grown into a viable source of good, unbiased information, thanks to you and your team. May it continue to grow and serve the "New West" in its style.
Good luck, Jon!
Mary and Bob
Sad to see you go and happy for continuity of purpose. This has been a transitional month for me. The leaders of things I like are going on to other ventures. I am especially going to miss my agronomist and crop advisor who has taken a pure research position, and now does not have to be a farm chemical salesman along with the job of advisor to growing things in an environmentally responsible way. And Jonathan, who did a bang up job in Bozoland with the Big Sky fiascos, and never was a mouthpiece for the flim flam man and his cohorts, well done!! For poor Scott, it was an opportunity in journalism missed, and for Jonathan, he hit on all eight cylinders. Good luck in the new venture.
Comment By Mr. T., 1-26-10Jonathan, you've done great work here and have earned your readers' journalistic respect no matter your direction, but I can't help but wonder: if the economy and settlement of the West by the coastsiders was still going great guns... would you be leaving? Just askin'.
Comment By Kent W, 2-02-10Jonathan,
As one who recalls those first few years, working out of your wonderful house, to creating this respected news and features source for our New West, I wish you and your wonderful family all the best in good ol' San Fran. We all hate to see you go, but this is obviously a great opportunity for you and the new venture. Good luck, and keep in touch with Missoula.