Ellen Crooke, a seasoned news executive who has spent the past two decades with local TV broadcaster TEGNA, will retire from the company early next year.
The announcement was made in a press release that highlighted Crooke’s 22 years of work with TEGNA and its predecessor Gannett Company.
“Working with TEGNA’s journalists, photojournalists, producers, meteorologists and news leaders has been the honor of a lifetime,” Crooke said in a statement on Tuesday. “It has been my dream job to champion our journalists whose work truly matters. I look forward to continuing to work with the news organization and TEGNA’s leadership team through an important election season before retiring in January.”
Crooke began at TEGNA — then part of Gannett — in June 2002 when she was named the news director of the company’s Buffalo outlet, WGRZ (Channel 2, NBC). After spending six years at the station, she moved to WXIA (Channel 11, NBC) in Atlanta, where she worked as the Vice President of News, a position she held for another six years.
In August 2014, Gannett named her to the role of Vice President of News, overseeing initiatives for the entire company. Gannett spun TEGNA out into a separate operation the following year. In 2021, she was further elevated to the role of Senior Vice President of News.
“The work that TEGNA’s news and content teams produce every day is second-to-none, and that is in no small part a result of Ellen’s leadership,” said Mike Steib, the President and CEO of TEGNA. “We thank Ellen for her many contributions to TEGNA’s success and for her continued leadership.”
“Ellen’s dedication to quality journalism and growing and mentoring our news leaders will have a lasting impact on our team and the news business,” Lynn Beall, the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Media Operations at TEGNA, said in a statement. “As the leader of our news organization, Ellen has driven our content innovation efforts, launched Verify, crafted our Principles of Ethical Journalism and spearheaded the creation of several journalism trainings, including news leadership, storytelling and our Producer-in-Residence program. We thank her for working with us through a transition period and wish her all the best in her next chapter.”
That next chapter has yet to be revealed — it isn’t clear if Crooke will retire from the industry entirely, or is leaving TEGNA for a new opportunity.
