Lee Enterprises lays off editor of The Eagle, will consolidate role to Waco

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) - Lee Enterprises, the company that owns The Eagle, has laid off the paper’s editor and will outsource the job to its sister paper, the Waco Tribune-Herald.

In a statement to KBTX on Tuesday, The Eagle said, “The Eagle Media Company’s newsroom and advertising teams will remain at The Eagle and not outsourced to the Waco Tribune-Herald. Both newsrooms will continue to provide in-depth coverage of their local communities under the leadership of Steve Boggs.”

Boggs has served as editor of the Waco Tribune-Herald since 2014.

The statement furthered, “The local advertising team will continue to be led by Crystal Dupre’. We continue to invest in talent and technology in areas of our business tied to our digital future and our commitment to high-quality local news remains steadfast.”

Sources tell KBTX longtime employee and editor of The Eagle, Darren Benson, was laid off last week. His name was removed from the masthead of the newspaper in Saturday’s edition without another editor being listed.

Benson began his career at the paper in 2006 as city editor. He served as managing editor beginning in 2010, before being named editor in 2018. That year, The Eagle was named the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors’ Newspaper of the Year.

The Eagle will still be printed in Bryan, along with the Waco Tribune-Herald and many other titles. Other business entities at The Eagle, including ad sales, will continue to be managed locally.

The Eagle is just one of several Lee Enterprise properties undergoing a shift around the country. These moves come amid an attempt to fight investors known for consolidating local news for profit.

“Today, breaking news happens all the time. A mass shooting, an earthquake, a tornado, you name it. We need those managers in the community,” Rebecca Aguilar, the National President of the Society of Professional Journalists, said. “The public today, with all the noise going on in social media, they need local journalists to make sure they hold the powerful accountable, the people that wear badges accountable, the people that run nonprofits accountable,” she said.

Cuts have been reported at five other Lee newspapers this year including Omaha, Bristol, and Richmond.

Aguilar said while she understands decisions must be made, there needs to be transparency when it comes to shifting a newsroom like this.

“The shareholders and the owners, while it may be a business, they have a responsibility to the community. Because when they bought this newspaper and all the others, they said that they were going to be focused on quality journalism. It’s in their statement on their website. So how are these changes going to affect journalism,” she said.

KBTX reached out to Lee Enterprises and managers at the Waco Tribune-Herald for comment but did not receive a comment. No statement has been posted on The Eagle, Waco Tribune-Herald, or Lee Enterprises websites.

“It is sad that Lee Enterprises has this quality newspaper and doesn’t have respect enough for the public to even tell them this is what we are doing, this is why we are doing it, and this is when we are doing it,” Aguilar said.

The Eagle and other Berkshire Hathaway Newspapers were purchased by Lee Enterprises in 2020 for $140 million. At the time, Warren Buffet said he believed the company was the best positioned to manage the paper through the industry challenges.

According to Lee Enterprises, total digital revenue and digital subscribers grew significantly in the first quarter of 2022.