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A longtime journalist who covered George W. Bush’s White House for Bloomberg News and served as interim bureau chief for Time Magazine in London and the Middle East will become the next executive editor of Albuquerque Journal on Nov. 12.
The hiring of Jay Newton-Small as executive editor/vice president was announced by Journal Publisher William P. Lang on Tuesday.
“We feel fortunate to have a woman of such vast and prestigious journalism experience come to lead our team,” Lang said. “Jay not only brings a deep knowledge of and experience in traditional print publications, but also has over a decade of broadcast, digital and multimedia platform development work.”
“I couldn’t be more excited to join the team at the Albuquerque Journal,” Newton-Small said. “New Mexico is an incredible place and I believe I can help showcase its unique peoples and cultures, and build community — as only good journalism can do.”
Newton-Small, who moved to Albuquerque with her husband in 2020, has written several articles for the Journal in the past few months.
Lang said Newton-Small, 48, has worked in “a variety of news leadership roles nationally and internationally, authored a best-selling book, launched and led a venture-backed startup, and more.” During the pandemic, she moved to Santa Fe, where she met her husband. The couple has a teenage son and daughter.
“She is not only an impressive professional, but a genuinely nice person who loves New Mexico and is eager to take the helm here,” Lang said.
Newton-Small graduated from Tufts University and then Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism before starting her career as a junior White House correspondent for Bloomberg News. She also covered Congress, past presidential campaigns and national politics before her hiring in 2007 by Time Magazine. At Time, she wrote nearly a dozen cover stories and covered stories on five continents. She also served as interim bureau chief in London and the Middle East.
Her best-selling book, “Broad Influence: How Women Are Changing the Way America Works,” was published in 2016. She left Time in 2017.
The daughter of United Nations diplomats, she grew up abroad, living in such places as Asia, Africa and Europe. She knows three languages: Spanish, French and English.
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Newton-Small left Time to start a company called MemoryWell, which drew on her experience caring for her father, living with Alzheimer’s disease. She was a fellow at the Halcyon Incubator, New America Foundation and the Institute of Politics at Harvard University.
She has won several national reporting awards, including an Emmy for spot reporting on an NBC documentary. She has also served as a member or a director of more than a dozen national publishing and broadcast excellence organizations, including the National Press Foundation, the National Press Club, the Asian American Journalism Association, the White House Correspondents Association, the Congressional Standing Committee of Periodical Correspondents and Columbia Founders.
“The future of journalism lies in local news and I believe the Albuquerque Journal can set a shining example of how news can work for a city, for a state and as a business,” Newton-Small said.
She replaces former editor Patrick Ethridge, who was placed on administrative leave and then resigned Oct. 3 after being charged with shoplifting. He had been with the Journal since May 30, 2023.
“It has been an agonizing past few weeks,” Lang said, “but we have turned a critical corner and have come to believe that out of trauma comes opportunity. We see a future full of hope and opportunity here at the Albuquerque Journal as we turn our efforts and attention to strategic growth and even greater quality community coverage.”
