George Cogswell named vice president, regional publisher

George Cogswell

Commercial Appeal publisher George H. Cogswell III has been promoted as one of four vice presidents, regional publishers of the new Journal Media Group.

Cogswell will continue his duties in Memphis, Tenn., where he serves as president and publisher, and will also oversee publishers of newspapers in Ventura, California; Redding, California; and Kitsap, Washington.

Cogswell, 55, said he is honored and excited about the opportunity with the Journal Media Group.

"I'm very excited to have been tapped for additional responsibilities, with the new Journal Media Group, of our West Coast newspapers while continuing to serve as president and publisher of the Commercial Appeal," he said. "Before coming to Memphis, I was the regional publisher for the west coast region and, therefore, am very familiar with those newspaper markets. I look forward to reuniting with those newspapers and communities."

Cogswell joined the CA in June 2012 from the Ventura County Star in southern California, where he served as president and publisher for five years.

Last July, Journal Communications Inc. of Milwaukee and the E.W. Scripps Co. of Cincinnati – the parent company of the CA and the Ventura County Star – announced a plan to merge their broadcast operations and spin off their newspapers into a new publicly traded company, to be known as the Journal Media Group.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel will be the new company's flagship paper and the company will be based in Milwaukee. It will employ about 3,600 people, with annual revenues estimated at more than $500 million. The move is part of a trend of media companies spinning off their print divisions.

The transaction between Journal Communications and E.W. Scripps is expected to be completed in the coming months.