Rachael Van Horn
May 16, 2008 08:16 am
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Monday marked the first official day of work for the new publisher of the Woodward News, Robbie Davis.
Davis replaces Mooreland native and philanthropist Pam Nelson.
Nelson served as publisher of Woodward News for eight years working for its parent company Community Newspaper Holdings Incorporated (CNHI). She was recently promoted to the position of publisher of the Stillwater News Press in Stillwater and has been running both the Woodward News and Stillwater News Press from February until about three weeks ago.
Davis comes to Woodward by way of The Times Herald, a Washington, Ind. paper that in some ways mirrors the small town feel of Woodward, Davis said.
“When I came here to Woodward for a visit, it very much reminded me of Washington with its small, hometown feel and the family like atmosphere of the paper,” Davis said. “That is why I liked it. You just don’t get that in a large paper.”
Davis served with The Times Herald for four years as its advertising director where she oversaw budget issues and developed the advertising staff.
But before that Davis was not unlike many full time mothers whose children were grown -she was ready to approach her own education and begin a new career.
That is how she was introduced to the news business, she said.
Indeed, it was less the education itself and more the need to finish a degree and support herself while doing that, which led Davis into the world she now serves as one of its leaders.
“I was attending school and needed a part-time job to support myself and so the Sun Commercial in Vincennes, Ind. had a part-time opening in circulation there,” she said.
Yet, after completing her degree, the former student was invited to come to work full time in the circulation department for the paper and that is where her interest in news began, she said.
“I attended school to get a paralegal degree,” she said. “But I never worked in the field since I went to work for the paper after I finished school.”
While at the Sun Commercial, she also served in the Classified Advertising Department and then later Display/Retail Advertising.
A fascination with the news and the business of how news and advertising impacts a community soon became her focus and to that end, what she began to serve.
Soon she was offered another full-time position but this time it was in advertising at The Times Herald in Washington, a community of about 25,000 people.
“Four years ago, after my husband passed away, I took the position in Washington, Indiana,” she said.
About a month ago, she was pinged by the leadership of CNHI to consider the position of publisher at Woodward.
If one were to ask Davis what is her focus now, she would might say she is committed to small town America, with its deeply personal and homespun journalism that highlights the victories of high school athletes and runs on the front page local events that define community.
It is a natural environment for the plucky blond who spent her childhood working on her grandparent’s Southern Illinois farm where she helped harvest corn, beans and winter wheat.
“I spent my summers driving a tractor,” she said.
Now, after being offered the Woodward position, the mother of five and grandmother of 14 has uprooted herself from her middle America roots and traded in corn country to try on some red dirt and a little Western Oklahoma sage and sand for a change.
Davis is excited to learn about Woodward and looks forward to a decidedly local approach to the news.
“Just because we are a small community and a small town does not mean that we should not be covering all the news,” she said.
It is her belief that the newspaper provides a service to the community of informing fully about issues that impact the community .
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