Top N&O editor job in new hands

Drescher moves up in Raleigh as Sill takes Sacramento post

RALEIGH -- John Drescher, managing editor of The News & Observer for the past five years, became the newspaper's top editor Tuesday. He succeeded Melanie Sill, who was named editor of the larger sister paper The Sacramento Bee in California.

The announcements were made simultaneously in the Raleigh and Sacramento newsrooms Tuesday afternoon and took effect immediately. Both newspapers are part of the Sacramento-based McClatchy Co.

Drescher, 47, becomes the newspaper's seventh executive editor and assumes Sill's former title of senior vice president.

"This was a very easy choice for me," N&O President and Publisher Orage Quarles III told employees assembled in the Raleigh newsroom. "John brings the whole package: He grew up here, he's got experience from papers outside of the market, and we all know his contributions here on a daily basis."

Drescher said he had not yet chosen a successor as managing editor nor even decided whether the position will be filled. He said that Quarles had offered him the new job only last week and that he would probably take another month or so to decide.

Drescher struggled to stay composed when acknowledging his wife, Deanna, and three daughters, ages 17, 14 and 12, who joined N&O employees for the announcement. He thanked them for their patience while he moved the family three times and worked long hours over the past several years.

"I think I must be the happiest person in North Carolina right now," Drescher told the newsroom. "It's really an honor to be named the executive editor of any newspaper. It's particularly an honor to be named the executive editor of this newspaper. I grew up reading this newspaper. I've admired it since I was 10 years old."

He told the newsroom that, even though these are difficult times for newspapers everywhere, The News & Observer will survive and thrive because of its commitment to journalism.

N&O 'not going away'

He cited examples of the kind of watchdog reporting that he said will carry the day.

"There are a lot of people who want us to fail," told the newsroom gathering. "There are corrupt politicians who would like for us to go away. There are overzealous prosecutors who would like for The News & Observer to go away. There are blind surgeons, truck drivers driving overloaded trucks, 100-mile-an-hour speeders and even the five city employees that it takes to paint a fire hydrant. ... I have news for all of them: We are not going away."

Drescher, who grew up in Raleigh, started his career as an intern at The N&O in 1981. After graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill with a bachelor's degree in journalism, where he was the editor of The Daily Tar Heel student newspaper, Drescher covered city and state government for The N&O from 1983 to 1986.

He joined The Charlotte Observer in 1988 as a state government reporter in Raleigh but subsequently moved to editing positions in Charlotte. In 2000, he became managing editor of The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C. The same year, he published a book about North Carolina's 1960 Democratic gubernatorial primary.

Sill hired him as managing editor five months after her promotion to the top editing job in 2002. The paper has a daily circulation of about 178,000.

Drescher, as managing editor, supervised the staff of more than 200 reporters, editors, photographers, artists and researchers. In his new role, he will also work with the paper's advertising, circulation and promotions staff and become a primary representative of the paper in the community.

Rick Thames, editor of the Charlotte Observer, has known Drescher since he was on the state government beat there. He said he wasn't surprised at the promotion.