Austin American-Statesman Editor, Publisher Stepping Down

AUSTIN, TEXAS — The editor and publisher of the Austin American-Statesman — the city's newspaper of record — on Monday announced their departure from the daily in the wake of a buyout and mass offers of voluntary severance pay packages for remaining employees.

Publisher Susie Biehle and Editor Debbie Hiott told staffers they would be stepping down from their respective roles. Biehle, who framed her imminent departure as a "retirement," has served as publisher of the newspaper since November 2012. Hiott, who climbed the reporting ranks to the top newsroom role after a long tenure at the Statesman, has been editor since November 2011.

Hiott will leave the paper on Sept. 30 and Biehle will stay on until Nov. 30, the newspaper reported.

Their imminent departures come five months after GateHouse Media finalized its purchase of the newspaper from Cox Enterprises, ending its 41-year ownership streak of the newspaper. The dual moves also come shortly after the offer of buyouts for newspaper staff ahead of the GateHouse Media takeover.

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On Monday, both Biehle and Hiott told staffers they had opted to accept the severance separation offer. It's unclear how many other newspaper employees have accepted the buyouts.

“I’ve been thinking for a while about the right time to retire and it simply felt like the right time to allow new leadership to take the reins,” Biehle told employees, as reported by the Statesman. “It has been the greatest privilege of my career to serve in this role.”

According to a bio provided by the Statesman, Biehle launched her newspaper career in 1984 when she became vice president and director of marketing at the Arkansas Gazette. She remained there as the newspaper transitioned from private ownership after being purchased by the Gannett media company. She then moved to Detroit in 1991 to oversee the city's two major dailies' business operations before being named executive vice president and general manager of the chain's flagship newspaper, USA Today.

For her part, Hiott has had a storied career at the Statesman starting as an intern covering the weekend reporting duties while attending Southwest Texas State University and climbing the newsroom ranks and eventually ascending to the top editorial position.

“It was a tough decision, but after 28 years in this newsroom, I am ready for a new challenge,” Hiott said, as reported by the newspaper. “I love the Statesman and the people who work here, and I expect to be a supporter long after I am gone.”

With Hiott's imminent departure, the newspaper loses its status as having one of the few newsrooms in the country led by a woman. Despite strides made in recent years, the media industry is just one-third women, a percentage decreasing when one counts women journalists of color, as Quartz at Work reported. As of 2017, men received 62 percent of bylines and other credits in print, online, TV, and wire news, according to a Women’s Media Center report.

It's unclear if GateHouse Media has plans to appoint a woman or minority to the newsroom's top newsroom post once it takes over the editorial operations in earnest.

The departures come at a tough time for the print industry as newspapers scramble to stay relevant in an increasingly digital age, when readers gravitate to online sites for news retrieval. In neighboring San Antonio, the Express-News has laid off staff as it endures its own dips in readership.

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