McClatchy names Colleen McCain Nelson as new Sacramento Bee, California editor
Colleen McCain Nelson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, is The Sacramento Bee’s new executive editor and will also serve as the regional editor for California, where McClatchy operates five newsrooms.
Nelson, 46, is currently the national opinion editor for McClatchy, The Bee’s parent company, which operates in 30 markets across the country. She also is vice president and opinion editor for The Kansas City Star, and has extensive experience in covering national and local issues, as well as presidential campaigns and the White House.
“Colleen comes to this leadership role with deep and proven experience in creating powerful, mission-driven journalism that is essential to readers,” Kristin Roberts, McClatchy’s senior vice president for news, said in her announcement Tuesday.
Since December 2016, Nelson has been at the opinion helm in Kansas City and a driving force for enhancing the relevance of editorial content.
“As our national opinion editor, Colleen has transformed our newsrooms’ approach to opinion, ensuring that our writers across the country are steadfastly focused on local issues that have clear and immediate impact on our local audiences and that their writing is grounded in original reporting,” Roberts said.
Nelson will assume the new role Jan. 19. She will serve as executive editor in Sacramento and as the California regional editor, supervising the local editors who lead The Modesto Bee, The Fresno Bee, the Merced Sun-Star and The Tribune of San Luis Obispo. McClatchy’s local newsrooms cover California’s capital, Northern California, the Central Valley and the Central Coast.
“I’m honored to be joining one of McClatchy’s premier newsrooms at a moment when local news is more essential than ever,” Nelson said. “The Sacramento Bee has a well-earned reputation as an ambitious and innovative news organization, and I am eager to work with the talented journalists in Sacramento, Fresno, Modesto, San Luis Obispo and Merced on high-impact journalism that makes a difference in our communities.”
A graduate of the University of Kansas (and proud Jayhawk), Nelson has covered local issues in her reporting career with the Wichita Eagle and The Dallas Morning News.
In Dallas, she and two colleagues won the Pulitzer Prize in Editorial Writing in 2010 for “their relentless editorials deploring the stark social and economic disparity between the city’s better-off northern half and distressed southern half.”
She joined The Wall Street Journal in 2012 and as the White House correspondent chronicled President Barack Obama’s administration, traveling the world with the president and vice president.
In 2016, she traveled the country covering the campaigns of Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
“From her work as a political reporter at The Wall Street Journal to her Pulitzer Prize-winning opinion journalism at The Dallas Morning News and her innovative leadership in Kansas City, Colleen has consistently pursued ambitious projects with accountability at their core,” Roberts said.
This story was originally published January 5, 2021 at 9:00 AM.