NNA board names two regional directors

Feb 4, 2014

The National Newspaper Association’s board elected Matthew Paxton, publisher of the News-Gazette in Lexington, VA, and Matthew Adelman, publisher of the Douglas Budget, Douglas, WY, as regional directors for the association.

Paxton will fill the unexpired term of Chip Hutcheson in Region 3 (Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia), and Adelman will fill the unexpired term of David Puddu in Region 10 (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming).

Adelman has been in the newspaper business for 40 years, starting off as a carrier for his hometown daily in Casper, WY.

He said, “My parents tell stories of me reading my first newspaper when I was barely out of diapers and creating a lifelong habit of devouring the printed word ever since. I served as feature editor and co-editor of my high school newspaper, where I made the decision early on to make newspapering a career. I served as editor of my college paper, the Casper College Chinook, before transferring to the University of Utah and working on the Daily Utah Chronicle.”

His first job was working at a weekly in Thermopolis, WY. He was there for three years before jumping around to other newspapers in Wyoming and landing in Douglas in 1988. He transferred to the Cody (WY) Enterprise for nearly seven years before returning to Douglas as the managing editor in 1994. And he became a partner with Sage Publishing in the Douglas Budget in 2001, and purchased the Glenrock (WY) Independent in 2006.

Paxton is president of The News-Gazette Corp. in Lexington, VA, which publishes The News-Gazette, a weekly print and online newspaper, the News-Gazette’s Weekender, a weekly news and feature free-distribution paper and several print and Web niche publications. He grew up in a newspaper family and represents the fourth generation involved in his family’s paper.

After four years in banking, he returned to the family business in 1980, where he started in advertising sales. After stints as advertising manager and business manager, he became publisher in 1994 when he bought the business from his father.

Paxton is a past president and current board member of the Virginia Press Association and was an NNA regional director from 1999 to 2005.