New Editor, Familiar Names in Big Change for Johnston Patch

Some exciting news for Johnston Patch readers — I, Mark Schieldrop, the founding editor of Cranston Patch — am now taking over day-to-day operations here at Johnston Patch.

And longtime readers of Johnston Patch will now see a familiar byline on a bulk of the stories posted here going forward: Joseph Hutnak.

Hutnak, a veteran of the local news business here in Rhode Island, was the founding editor of Johnston Patch when it launched in 2010 before he moved over to Bristol-Warren Patch recently. Daily operations in Johnston up until now had been handled by Regional Editor Patrick Luce.

Patch has continually adjusted and modified its structure since inception, and this most recent change is just another move to better serve our readers and more efficiently function as both a hyperlocal news outlet and community resource.

With the current change, I'll be handling the day-to-day operations of the site, including posting articles, covering events and accepting news tips and press releases.

Joe's new title is Field Editor, which means he will be covering the town of Johnston along with other towns in our West Bay region, including Woonsocket, Smithfield and Cranston. Unlike a traditional local editor like me, Hutnak's job is 100 percent reporting out in the field.

Here's what Johnston Patch readers should know:

• As your local editor, along with writing articles, I'm the guy to contact when you have a concern about our coverage, a story idea, a news tip, question or need help using the site. Reach out to me for anything. My goal is to make Johnston Patch more local, more relevant and more interesting.
• If you know Joe Hutnak from his prior contacts with the town when he ran Johnston Patch, you can also reach out to him at any time. He and I work closely as we plan our editorial coverage, so if you drop him a dime, he'll let me know (unless you tell him even I can't know about what you're telling him, of course). Just remember that for issues with the site, such as a typo, issue with an announcement, directory listing or event, you should be contacting me, Mark Schieldrop, instead.
• This new arrangement should mean Johnston Patch will have a much stronger presence in the town, so you should see an immediate boost in local stories with pictures, video and voices from people who live and work here. Expect to see us roaming the streets with our cameras and notebooks a lot more often. 

A little about me:

I'm married to my beautiful wife Naomi and the father of an otherworldly-smart 3-year-old girl. I've been in the news business for more than a decade with a background in community journalism. Before joining Patch in 2010, I was a reporter for the South County Independent covering Narragansett and South Kingstown for nearly nine years. 

I helped launch Cranston Patch right around the same time Johnston Patch was born. During that time, I've built a solid reputation among my readers in Cranston for fairness and accuracy as well as covering that great city with vigor. Cranston Patch is often referred to as one best Patch sites (and overall news sites) in the region and I am proud of the level of community engagement I've been able to achieve through the site as well as social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

As I continue to run Cranston Patch, I expect much of the energy and momentum there to spill over here into Johnston, so please join me as this site takes a step forward. If you're not following Johnston Patch on Facebook or Twitter, click on the links in this sentence and do it now. 

It will take a few weeks before we're up to full speed, but I'm pumped to be taking the reigns here at Johnston Patch and look forward to bringing you good things to come. Call or e-mail me any time.

Patch on!

Mark Schieldrop

401-515-3660

mark.schieldrop@patch.com

(Photo is of me with New Kids on the Block's Jordan Knight at left)