McClatchy is focusing its attention on the power of its opinion journalism to drive subscriptions and engagement across its portfolio of 30 media companies.

In a memo released to staff last week, Kristin Roberts, vice president of news, and Colleen Nelson, national opinion editor, outlined the effort to achieve deeper results from its opinion pages.

McClatchy has selected Youngstown, Ohio, as the launch city for The Compass Experiment – an initiative in association with Google to develop essential and sustainable local digital news models.

"When we heard that Youngstown's daily newspaper, The Vindicator, would be closing, we saw an opportunity to help a community with a rich heritage and distinct identity find a path forward for local news," said Mandy Jenkins, general manager of The Compass Experiment. "We are on the ground now working with people in the community to set up a digital news outlet that will launch in the fall."

McClatchy has added two new leaders to its advertising team as it continues to transform its sales operation and connect partners to McClatchy's iconic local brands. Holden Berlin was named head of strategic sales and Alison Leuthold was named head of strategic planning and revenue operations.

McClatchy has named Cynthia DuBose as senior editor for special projects. DuBose will lead McClatchy's multi-market and multiplatform projects across the local media company's 30 newsrooms.

These are rickety times for newspapers. A major issue: printing a paper costs lots of money. Delivering the paper costs lots of money.

So the McClatchy chain, which has 30 newsrooms, is on a learning journey to find out how to get readers to go from print to digital.

In April, the McClatchy-owned Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Sun News went from publishing a print product seven days a week to six. It cut the print edition and produced only digital stories on Saturdays. Because digital activation increased 8 percent in one month, revenue was not impacted and virtually no one cancelled their subscription, McClatchy is adding two more papers to what it calls “Digital Saturdays.” The Durham (N.C.) Herald Sun and the Bellingham (Wash.) Herald will no longer print on Saturdays, starting July 6.

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McClatchy has named Mandy Jenkins as general manager of The Compass Experiment. Jenkins will lead a three-year effort to explore new sustainable models for local news. She will start in this new role beginning June 17.

McClatchy has named Kristin Roberts vice president of news. She will lead a newly-expanded News group that comprises the company's 30 newsrooms across 14 states, news operations and McClatchy Studios, the company's long-form audio and video documentary production unit.

McClatchy has named Aminda Marqués González as editor and publisher of the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald, and expanded the leadership role of Sara Glines as regional publisher of McClatchy's Carolinas and East regions. They will begin their new roles on April 15.

Donations from McClatchy readers and viewers around the country will help pay off more than $5 million in medical bills owed by servicemembers, veterans and their families.

In partnership with RIP Medical Debt, a nonprofit that buys bundles of debt at a steep discount and forgives it, McClatchy's War Within Initiative fundraising drive across print, digital, video and social platforms sparked the compassion of donors in the local news company's 30 markets and beyond, leading hundreds to join the effort to lift a burden for those who serve.

Sacramento-based newspaper publisher McClatchy will consolidate the design and copy editing functions of its 30 newspapers across the country into a central hub in Charlotte, N.C.

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