Drew Fritz has joined the community as the new regional editor for the Middlesboro Daily News, Harlan Enterprise and Claiborne Progress.

A native of Harrison County in northern Kentucky, Fritz is a media professional with nearly 30 years of experience encompassing nearly all facets of the publishing industry, including management roles in newspaper, magazine, news wire and broadcast media outlets. Much of his career was spent in Asia, where he worked for the local press in Singapore beginning in 2000 before moving on to become an Editor-in-Charge at Reuters’ Global Pictures Desk there. Before his return to the U.S. in 2015, he spent three years in Hong Kong with Bloomberg TV.

“I love community journalism and to me, despite all the places I’ve been and all the things I’ve done in nearly 30 years of media production, the type of job satisfaction I felt at my very first weekly newspaper job is my definition of career success,” he said. “Not how big or far reaching a publication’s circulation is or how many people it employs. It’s about how you feel about the work you do and the product you publish for your readership. It’s about being an integral part of your readers’ lives and a trusted institution of the community in which they live.”

As the company continues to refine its focus toward more local news coverage, he is excited about taking the reins. Group publisher Rita Haldeman remarked “It is my belief that Drew will bring a new level of excellence to all three of our newspapers. I am happy that he shares the vision that hyper-local news, news that is important and of interest to our readers, is what is going to keep us viable in the communities we serve”

“The potential is here in this community for great journalism,” Fritz added. “I’m thankful for the opportunity to help make this happen and excited about what we can accomplish together. I see this as a team effort — your hometown newspaper and you, our beloved readership — working together to make us your primary source of local news.”

As new editor, he issued a call to action. “Please do not ever hesitate to contact me directly with your story ideas or just general input on what you think your local paper should be doing to serve you. I’m always eager to listen.”