Silverman Named Publisher and Editor at the Detroit News; Giles Retires
ARLINGTON, Va. — Mark A. Silverman will become publisher and editor of The Detroit News, it was announced today.
Silverman, currently executive editor and vice president/news of The Courier-Journal at Louisville, Ky., succeeds Robert H. Giles, who announced plans to retire June 1.
“Bob Giles has spent 20 years enriching the content of Gannett’s newspapers and, thus, the service provided to our readers,” said Gary L. Watson, president of the Newspaper Division. “We thank him for his many, many contributions — not only in Detroit where he has been an outstanding leader during difficult times — but also through his commitment to the company and to the industry.”
Giles, 63, will join the Freedom Forum as senior vice president and executive director of the Media Studies Center in New York City.
“The Detroit News will continue to have strong, effective leadership in Mark Silverman,” Watson said. “Mark knows the business and is prepared to move into his new role as publisher and editor.”
Silverman, 47, joined Gannett as senior managing editor of Gannett Suburban Newspapers at White Plains, N.Y., in 1986. From 1988 to 1991, he was executive editor of the Rockford (Ill.) Register Star.
Silverman served as director of the NEWS 2000 program in the Newspaper Division from 1991 to April 1996, when he assumed his role in Louisville.
Prior to joining Gannett, Silverman served in a variety of newsroom management positions, including managing editor at the Providence (R.I.) Journal. He is a native of Brookline, Mass., and a graduate of the University of Massachusetts.
Giles joined Gannett in 1977 at the Democrat and Chronicle and Times-Union at Rochester, N.Y., where he served as executive editor and editor. In 1986, Giles joined The Detroit News.
He earlier was a reporter and editor at the Akron (Ohio) Beacon-Journal and served as professional-in-residence at the University of Kansas for a year.
Giles holds degrees from DePauw University and Columbia University. He was a Nieman Fellow in 1966. He is the author of a journalism textbook entitled “Newsroom Management: A Guide to Theory and Practice.”
He is the immediate past president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE); president of the Accrediting Council in Journalism and Mass Communications; chairman of the Foundation for American Communications and a trustee of the William Allen White Foundation at the University of Kansas. He also is a former president of the Associated Press Managing Editors and juror for the Pulitzer Prize.
Gannett is a nationwide news and information company that publishes 90 daily newspapers, including USA TODAY, and USA WEEKEND, a newspaper magazine. Gannett also operates 16 television stations, five radio stations, cable television systems in five states and alarm security services.