Mark Medici, former executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Hearst Newspapers, has been promoted to president of the Houston Chronicle.

McClatchy has named Nick Johnson, a digital media executive with over two decades of experience in the media and advertising industry, as its new head of advertising.

"Newspapers have been trying to play defense for a long time. From classifieds to inserts to our core users migrating to digital, our industry has been in protection mode," says Vince Johnson, publisher of The Item in Sumter, S.C. "Video allows us to play offense."

Three longtime Hearst executives have been elected executive vice presidents of the corporation: Mark Aldam, who also assumes the title of chief operating officer; Rich Malloch, who becomes EVP for Business Media, and Mitch Scherzer, who adds EVP to his existing title of chief financial officer.

Readers of the Times News in Kingsport and the Johnson City Press, both in Northeast Tennessee, saw new looks on Tuesday, Dec. 12. The redesigns of the Sandusky Newspaper Group papers are somewhat different but the goal is the same: Make them easier to read.

But it's not just the design that has changed; it's also the ways in which stories are told, according to Times News Publisher Rick Thomason, who is overseeing the project.

"Our redesigns aren't just about fonts, rebranding and colors," said Bill Ostendorf, president and founder of Creative Circle. "It's really about changing newsroom culture and creating content that is more relevant, more interesting and easier to read."

The Sumter Item has named its first non-family publisher in the newspaper's 123-year history.

William Vincent "Vince" Johnson Jr., former publisher of the Forsyth County News in Cumming, Ga., is the fifth publisher of the locally owned, independent South Carolina newspaper.

Forsyth County News Publisher Vince Johnson says that when he came to the paper a couple of years ago, it had a rule about social media. Only one article was posted to Facebook each day, at 6 a.m.

In his entry form for the Mega-Innovation competition, Johnson noted that rule officially died on Jan. 20, 2014. Since then, the paper has increased its social media following by more than 1,000 percent.

That's just one example of how the Forsyth County News, described by Johnson as "wildly traditional" not so long ago, has changed.