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Awkward as it is for this traditional journalist to write (facing the old reporter’s adage to not make yourself the story), I find myself as the headline this week.
I’ve taken on a new title within Embarcadero Media Foundation: associate publisher / editorial director for the East Bay Division.
The promotion comes with new duties around community engagement and fundraising for our journalism nonprofit, as well as memorializing some of the senior management, interdepartmental and other non-editorial duties I’ve been undertaking over the past year or so.
I will continue to oversee the editorial department and guide our journalism operations in collaboration with our East Bay editor, Cierra Bailey, but I’ll inevitably be less involved in the day-to-day news worlds of the Pleasanton Weekly, Livermore Vine and DanvilleSanRamon.
I’ll still be managing the weekly print edition and writing this column, along with spot news coverage as needed, but my new main focus will be promoting and supporting our brand of local community journalism in the Tri-Valley — more so than producing it.
Bottomline: You’ll see my name less in our paper and website bylines, but you’ll be seeing my face more in your community.
It’s an exciting opportunity for career growth for this 36-year-old newsman, although admittedly one that will see me stretch my professional comfort zone from time to time. I also appreciate the vote of confidence from our East Bay publisher Gina Channell Wilcox and our foundation’s CEO Adam Dawes.
“We are very fortunate to have Jeremy on our team. He is a knowledgeable journalist and editor with excellent news judgment and coaching skills, a talented writer, a wonderful ambassador (and peacekeeper when feathers are ruffled) and a strategic thinker and leader,” Gina wrote in the email among our organization announcing the news Monday.
My mindset at the outset actually isn’t that different than it has been — to help the Pleasanton Weekly newspaper and our Pleasanton, Livermore and San Ramon Valley websites sustain and thrive into the future — but the effort and energy will include some new angles and approaches.
Each brand is near and dear to my professional heart, which has been beating for nearly 12 years to make this division the go-to source for local journalism in the Tri-Valley … the go-to source for what’s happening in your community.
I started as the online editor for Danville Express two days after my honeymoon in November 2013.
Within months, our Danville and San Ramon websites merged to become DanvilleSanRamon.com and I added significant duties for the Pleasanton Weekly print edition as associate editor. For several years, that meant I was the sole reporter and editor for the San Ramon Valley and the person doing the grunt work on the editorial side to put out the Pleasanton paper every week.
I had the honor of being Gina’s pick to succeed founding editor Jeb Bing upon his retirement in February 2017, which included me taking on the Pleasanton city reporting beat, a mantle that Jeb carried with skill, class and perspective en route to earning the moniker “Mr. Pleasanton”.
As we navigated a global pandemic, I was there alongside Cierra and Gina as our division launched the Livermore Vine website in October 2021 (in tandem with the Redwood City Pulse in our Peninsula Division). And soon after being promoted to editorial director in September 2023, I was there as Embarcadero Media converted from a for-profit news corporation to a nonprofit journalism foundation at the start of 2024.
This remains an exciting time for our organization. A crucial time as well – fundraising goals, sales targets, member and donor acquisition and retention, and of course, a demanding 24/7 news cycle in the Tri-Valley.
Many of you have heard me say this before, but in terms of community support, every little bit counts if you enjoy (and even rely on) our brand of local journalism.
Read our stories online, sign up to receive our paper delivered to your home or grab it from the streetside boxes around Pleasanton, register for our daily Express or weekly Preps Playbook online newsletters, share our articles on social media, send us news tips, call us out when you think we missed the mark, tell that business you saw their ad in the paper or online, come to our events, become a Support Local Journalism member, donate to our foundation and the list goes on … each one matters if and when you’re compelled. And we’re so grateful.
As far as “come to our events” goes, we have a big one coming up next month. We’ll be celebrating the Pleasanton Weekly’s 25th anniversary at the Concert in the Park downtown on Aug. 29, which our foundation is co-sponsoring. RPM will be rockin’ out on the new bandstand at Lions Wayside Park.
You can meet with me and our whole editorial team, snap a photo in our Take Us Along booth, grab a copy of that Friday’s paper, enjoy a giveaway, learn more about our foundation and most importantly, have fun.
Editor’s note: Jeremy Walsh is the associate publisher and editorial director for the Embarcadero Media Foundation’s East Bay Division. His “What a Week” column is a recurring feature in the Pleasanton Weekly, Livermore Vine and DanvilleSanRamon.com.
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