Mike Wilson, managing editor of ESPN’s FiveThirtyEight, will be the next editor of The Dallas Morning News, the paper announced Thursday in a staff memo.
Wilson, who visited the Morning News for an interview earlier this month, will replace Bob Mong, who has been editor of the paper since 2001.
Before he joined FiveThirtyEight, Wilson was managing editor of the Tampa Bay Times. Before that, he was a newsfeatures editor at The Tampa Bay Times. During his stint at the paper, he was a finalist for The Pulitzer Prize.
Prior to arriving at The Times, Wilson was a longtime writer and editor at the Miami Herald.
Mong announced in August he would step aside sometime in 2015, after nearly 35 years at the Morning News. After Wilson begins at The News in February, Mong will become Editor Emeritus to assist in the transition.
Here’s the memo:
12/18/14
To: One and All
From: Jim and Bob
Re: Mike Wilson to become editor of The Dallas Morning News
We are pleased to announce that Mike Wilson will become the new editor of The Dallas
Morning News and will assume his new duties on Feb. 16, 2015.
Jim says: “I was looking for someone with experience leading a traditional newsroom’s transition to the digital environment, and also someone who had the curiosity and courage to step out and lead a pure play digital site that published important journalism. In Mike, I found both. Perhaps more importantly, Mike has a passionate dedication to storytelling excellence. If there is one thing I am certain about, compelling storytelling will find audiences across channels and across platforms. It may be the only facet of journalism that is impervious to changes in technology.”
Mike succeeds Bob Mong who announced in August that he would retire in 2015. Bob took over as editor in June 2001.
Mike comes to The News with a distinguished track record as a reporter, author, digital and print newsroom leader and proponent of high quality narrative writing. Currently, Mike works with Nate Silver as managing editor of FiveThirtyEight, ESPN’s first-ever publishing effort not dedicated exclusively to sports.
“I am honored to have this opportunity to lead The Dallas Morning News,” Mike said. “I look forward to joining with the Morning News staff to deliver a news report worthy of one of America’s great cities”
Previously Mike served as managing editor of the Tampa Bay Times, Florida’s largest newsroom, overseeing a staff of 240 journalists. Under his direction, Times’ writers won Pulitzer Prizes in 2009 and 2014, and several others were finalists. In addition, Mike was part of a team of reporters whose work was recognized as a finalist for a Pulitzer in investigative reporting in 1998.
He is also the author of two books: Right on the Edge of Crazy (1993), about the U.S. downhill ski team; and The Difference Between God and Larry Ellison (1997), about the CEO of Oracle Corp.
A Connecticut native, Wilson graduated from Tufts University in Massachusetts.
Bob has been with the company for 35 years, and during his time in news management, the paper has won nine Pulitzer Prizes and named a Pulitzer finalist 16 other times. After Mike begins his work here, Bob will serve as Editor Emeritus during the transition in leadership.
