SAN FRANCISCO—On Thursday, August 20, Hearst, the owner of the San Francisco Chronicle, announced Emilio Garcia-Ruiz, 58, as the publication’s new editor-in-chief. Garcia-Ruiz will succeed Audrey Cooper, the Chronicle’s first female editor, who left to become the editor-in-chief of New York City public broadcaster WNYC. He will officially start with the Chronicle on September 21.
Garcia-Ruiz is a native of Washington, D.C. and a graduate of the University of Maryland. He worked for the Washington Post for the past twenty years, starting as a sports copy editor after graduating college in 1987. Over the next two decades, he worked his way up the ranks, serving as sports editor from 2003 to 2009. Since 2013, he served as the managing editor for digital operations. According to Paul Farhl of the Washington Post, during Garcia-Ruiz’s tenure as managing editor, the Washington Post became one of the biggest digital-news-sites in the world, regularly drawing over 80 million US visitors every month. He also expanded the Post’s video news team, and helped create new publications like the travel site By The Way.
Garcia-Ruiz will take leadership of the SF Chronicle team of journalists that have recently won many awards for their digital and investigative reporting of topics like homelessness in San Francisco and the California wildfires. Garcia-Ruiz will oversee all news and content created across Chronicle print and digital platforms.
Through a Hearst press release, Garcia-Ruiz issued the following statement: “The San Francisco Chronicle’s 155-year-old legacy is one of hard-hitting journalism, compelling storytelling and critical frontline reporting for the communities that trust and depend on it. I am honored to lead the talented newsroom team and excited to further our mission and commitment to quality news.”
