04/06/2009

AP Press Release

Three incumbents, four new members elected to AP board

NEW YORK – Three incumbents and four new members were elected to the board of directors of The Associated Press in results announced Monday at the annual meeting of the news cooperative, in San Diego.

Re-elected to three-year terms were Craig A. Dubow, the chairman, president and CEO of Gannett Co., Inc.; John Mitchell, president and publisher of the Rutland Herald (Vt.) and the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus (Vt.); and Gary Pruitt, chairman, president and CEO of The McClatchy Company.

The new members are Elizabeth Brenner, publisher and president of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and executive vice president of Milwaukee-based Journal Communications Inc.; David M. Paxton, president and CEO of Paxton Media Group; Steven R. Swartz, president of Hearst Newspapers and senior vice president of Hearst Corp.; and Paul C. Tash, chairman and CEO of the Times Publishing Co. and editor of the St. Petersburg Times. Paxton will serve two years in a seat left vacant by a resignation; the others were elected to three-year terms.

On Saturday, the board also re-appointed David Lord, vice chairman of Pioneer Newspapers, Inc., in Seattle, to an additional two-year term.

Three directors are retiring from the board after completing the maximum service permitted under the AP bylaws: Walter Hussman, publisher of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette; Julie Inskeep, publisher of The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne (Ind.); and Bruce Reese, president and CEO of Bonneville International Corp.

The Associated Press board has 18 directors elected by AP members at their annual meeting, in staggered classes of six each year. These directors are elected to three-year terms and are eligible to serve up to a total of nine years. The board can also appoint up to six additional directors if it chooses.

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