One of Westlock’s top journalists is headed to Montreal to take on a new challenge.
Lucinda Chodan, the current editor-in-chief of the Edmonton Journal, has accepted a new position with the Montreal Gazette.
Chodan is scheduled to take over as that paper’s editor-in-chief in September, as well as a new role as the regional vice-president of editorial operations with the Gazette, Ottawa Citizen and Windsor Star.
“I very much believe in the kind of good journalism that they’re interested in practising and it’s a wonderful opportunity to be invited to play a role in that vision,” she said.
Postmedia, the company that owns the Gazette, Citizen and Star, as well as the Journal and National Post, is treating those three publications as one region, and has tasked Chodan with overseeing that endeavour.
She said her regional vice-presidency entails looking for interests common to those three papers, and advocating on their behalf at Postmedia head office.
“I’ll be making sure we are all pursuing the same strategic vision,” she said.
Although she is returning to a paper where she spent 20 years of her career, Chodan said it’s still not an incredibly easy transition.
“I have to say I’m very sad to leave Alberta, and particularly sad to leave the Journal, which is a wonderful newspaper in a wonderful community,” she said. “I grew up reading the Journal, in addition to the Westlock News. It’s kind of your hometown newspaper, and to be invited to be the editor was a huge thrill.”
In addition, Chodan said she’s going to miss many things about being in Edmonton, and so close to home, after many years working in communities across the country.
“I’m going to miss being so close to my mom and dad, and to my brother and all of my family,” she said. “They’re very important to me.”
Then there’s the scenic beauty of the Edmonton area.
“Edmonton’s river valley is really one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen anywhere in North America,” she said, adding her office at the Journal lets her gaze out at the valley every day.
Still, despite leaving home again and moving across the country, Chodan said she is excited to tackle a new challenge.
“It really is a privilege to be invited to help figure out how we can find a way to let newspapers prosper again and foster good journalism,” she said.
