Journal Star editor announces resignation

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By RICHARD PIERSOL / Lincoln Journal Star

After 30 years in the trenches of daily journalism in Lincoln, Kathleen Rutledge, editor of the Lincoln Journal Star, is resigning as of Nov. 9.

Rutledge announced her intentions to Journal Star news staff Thursday afternoon.

“It’s been a thrill to work for this newspaper for 30 years,” she said. “I’m looking forward to trying some other things.”

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Kathleen Rutledge

Kathleen Rutledge

Colleagues, sources speak

David Stoeffler, general manager, Suburban Journals of St. Louis, former Journal Star editor, former vice president for news of Lee Enterprises: “Well, obviously, besides being one of my best friends she’s one of the brightest minds in journalism I know. Kathy has done some tremendous things for the Journal Star and the industry. Her commitment to readers, diversity in staffing and in coverage, all the things that she has worked on with the staff there: online coverage, good writing. In my mind, what she’s really done is built a culture of excellence in that newsroom that’s really remarkable, I think, and not at all the usual thing in journalism. ... I’d say she’s left an indelible mark on civic life in Lincoln and Nebraska. With all the things she’s done professionally and personally, it’s hard to measure the impact she’s had there.”

Deane Finnegan, executive director, Leadership Lincoln: "I think Kathy Rutledge is one of those people who is full of integrity and ethics and brought a high standard of fair and just reporting to the paper. I’ve known her for 20-something years, and I have never known her to stray from those values she holds dear. ... It’s not only a loss for the Lincoln Journal Star, but for the community, as a guardian for us all. I just think she’s one class act.”

Cindy Lange-Kubick, Journal Star columnist: "When students ask me about the possibilities in journalism, I point toward Kathy Rutledge’s office and tell them my editor rose from the ranks of death and weather girl to the top of the newsroom. I think she is great example of a wise and strong woman who rose to the top on her merits and I am happy for her but sad for us."

Joe Starita, associate professor, University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communications, and former Journal Star city editor: "The bad news is that one of Nebraska's pre-eminent journalists -- a woman who has faithfully flown the flag of accuracy, fairness, balance and diversity for four decades -- is leaving the newsroom. The good news is that she will now use those same qualities to make Lincoln a better, richer, more interesting community."

Mayor and former state Sen. Chris Beutler: "From the perspective of a person being reported upon, you couldn’t have it better. She had a very refined sense of fairness and she was always interested in being fair to the people she covered. She also had a broad and strong sense of community. Between those two things she didn't leave anything to be desired."

Gil Savery, former managing editor, Lincoln Journal: "Kathy Rutledge deserves to be honored by induction into the Nebraska Journalism Hall of Fame. �- She is the first woman editor of a Nebraska metropolitan newspaper. ... She worked her way up through newsroom chairs. She was a superb performer in covering state government and followed with distinction other skilled editorial page editors of the Lincoln Journal, a role that historically was one of the newspaper’s strengths.

Paramount in her decades-long career in Lincoln journalism has been her demonstrated devotion to integrity, fairness, and balance in news presentation.

Perhaps most significant of all is the fact that she chose to stay in the Capital City when she could have gone elsewhere. Lincoln and Nebraska are the richer for that choice. It was my privilege to once be her colleague.”

Former U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey, Nebraska’s governor when Rutledge covered state government: "She is a very good writer and fair-minded. She never quoted me wrong, but she sure caught me from time to time saying things I wished I hadn’t said. When she was taking notes in an interview or at a press conference, Kathleen always had that smart and skeptical look that seemed to say, ‘Don’t even try to sneak something by me, buddy.’

When the pencil wasn’t in her hand, she has a terrific sense of humor and a wonderful laugh. She always struck me as someone who was sympathetic with your problem right up to the point when it was time to figure it out for yourself. She seems to be a cowgirl at heart.”

Tom Fogarty, business/travel editor for USA Today, who teamed with Rutledge to cover state government for the Journal: "I can’t imagine her slowing down. She’s one of the brightest, most self-assured, most unflappable people I’ve ever worked with. I’ve been very proud of her ascent in the newspaper business. My first memory of Kathy was when she was a copy editor at the Journal and I had been there for just a few weeks as a political writer. She sought me out to tell me how much she liked my profile of Charley Thone, who was soon to be inaugurated governor. It made me feel like a million bucks.

"Strange to hear from you about this. I was watching HBO’s Deadwood last night. The female bank owner in the gold camp reminded me of Rutledge -- a genteel woman completely self-assured amid boorish and violent men. And Deadwood isn’t all that far from Valentine."

Those other things include her passions: public affairs, research and writing, community affairs and spending time with her husband, poet Ted Kooser.

Rutledge, 58, quashed any speculation that her resignation was for health reasons. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006 and was successfully treated.

Said Journal Star Publisher John Maher: “Kathleen has made a real difference for our community while delivering tremendous results for the Journal Star during her tenure. She has been a leader for her staff and a champion for the local focus that has led to continued readership gains for the Journal Star, both in print and online. We wish her the best.”

A search for a new editor will begin immediately. In the interim, Managing Editor John Mabry will be responsible for news operations.

“I am confident in John’s ability — and I’m equally confident that our news staff will continue to deliver at a high level for our readers during this transition period and beyond,” Maher said.

Rutledge’s career spans an era of wrenching change in newspapers, progressing from a mature, near-monopolistic industry producing a paper product from typewritten copy pasted together through the first newsroom computers to an intensely competitive information marketplace, including not only newspapers but Web sites, blogs and podcasts. 

Her acts of devotion to the craft of journalism ranged from getting obituaries and weather forecasts right to reporting on the uncooperative, confronting the powerful, commenting on the unjustifiable, gathering community consensus and counseling wayward employees.

She fulfilled the old and honored mission of the newspaper: to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.

Born in Tilden, Rutledge is from an Air Force family that moved around the nation. She graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a degree in English and a Phi Beta Kappa key.

She returned to school to study journalism and started her career in 1977 as an obits and weather clerk at the Lincoln Journal.

For most of her subsequent years as a reporter, she covered the Nebraska Statehouse and politics.

She was editorial page editor for the Journal for two years until it merged with The Lincoln Star in 1995. Then she was city editor and managing editor for the Journal Star before her promotion to editor in December 2001.

Perhaps her most controversial time as editor came in late 2003, when the Journal Star published the scoop that NU Athletic Director Steve Pederson wanted Frank Solich out as head coach for Huskers football.

The paper withstood a storm of criticism until the coach was fired seven days later.  

During her tenure, the Journal Star newsroom won state and national recognition for reporting, narrative writing, investigations, photography and sportswriting.

In 2005, a Journal Star team showed the woes bred by beer sales in the reservation border town of Whiteclay. Another project sent a reporter and photographer to Afghanistan to examine that country’s ties to Nebraska.

She was also a leader in helping turn an all-white, mostly male newsroom into a more diverse workplace. Rutledge organized a council of readers who advised the Journal Star on how to more accurately reflect the ethnic and cultural diversity of Lincoln and Southeast Nebraska.

She championed the Journal Star’s role in staging forums that invited community members to comment on such topics as journalistic ethics, newspaper coverage of public schools and the growth of Lincoln.

She was a member of the nominating juries for the 2003 and 2004 Pulitzer Prizes in journalism.

Rutledge said she sees a bright future for the Journal Star because of the strength and credibility of its local reporting. 

“I know the Journal Star will be a big part in the life and times of this community for years to come, and I’ll be cheering from the sidelines.”

Reach Richard Piersol at 473-7241 or dpiersol@journalstar.com.