The editor of The North County Times, Kent Davy, will be leaving as a result of the purchase of the paper by U-T owner and San Diego developer Doug Manchester.
Davy said he was informed he would not be moving forward with the new management that takes over the paper today, though he was asked to be on a transition team for an indeterminate period.
Davy arrived from Chicago in 1996 to become the editor of the North County Times after the owner of the Blade Citizen bought out its rival North County paper, the Times Advocate, and merged the two. Now, with the buyout of the North County Times by Manchester, Davy will move on.
Davy’s commitment to balanced local journalism and the responsible role of the media was evident in a recent interview on KPBS’ Midday Edition, after the purchase of his paper became public.
“In my view, what we do as a journalist - we don’t work for corporate masters, no matter what their name is ultimately," said Davy. "What we do is we work for readers, and what we do, while it is not probably as good as being a missionary, or a doctor or a hospice worker, it’s none the less good work. We right wrongs, we show the community both its successes and its failure, to hold a mirror up to the community and say, ‘This is us.’”
Davy said The North County Times' newsroom has shrunk over the years from about 150 people to about 75 now.
Davy is one of several senior level managers at The North County Times who will lose their jobs. Many employees will learn today and over the next few days who will stay and who will go.
Readers may miss Davy’s weekly column, “From the Editor’s Desk,“ that appeared on Thursdays, giving a thoughtful, gentle and personal perspective on the changing times. He described his column as being about “life and death, people who are important to you, your neighbors and the world around us.” He wrote about the humming birds in his back yard, playing double bass in a jazz band and a moving account of the death of his own beloved wife. Somehow he drew out the deeper threads of how these things weave into the bigger picture.
