Rana Cash, Observer’s new top editor, pledges accountability, tough questions, solutions
Veteran journalist Rana Cash will return to Charlotte this fall as the new executive editor of The Charlotte Observer, bringing a promise to ask tough questions of leadership and to cover the city’s communities from the “ground up.”
Cash, 50, will draw upon three decades of sports and news journalism, including stops at The Miami Herald, The Dallas Morning News, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune and The Louisville Courier Journal.
She is currently executive editor of the Savannah Morning News in Georgia.
Cash also knows Charlotte, having served here as deputy editor of the Sporting News from 2010 to 2016.
She will be the first Black editor in the Observer’s 135-year history.
Her hiring at The Observer was announced Wednesday morning to the newsroom by Kristin Roberts, McClatchy’s senior vice president for news.
Cash, who is to begin her new job in early October, replaces Sherry Chisenhall, who announced her departure last month.
Here’s what Cash says the paper’s readers — and the region’s residents — can expect:
▪ A newsroom that will cover its communities from the “ground up” — coupling accountability and solutions-based journalism with stories that crisscross a broader neighborhood map.
“All our communities need to be reflected in our coverage, not just people of influence,” Cash said during a Tuesday phone interview. “Everyday people should be able to pick up our paper or come to our website and see themselves, their lives, and the stories that matter to them.”
▪ A newspaper that asks tough questions and digs deep for answers, particularly in matters of public safety and how police and other government officials treat communities of color.
Cash said a racial reckoning has jolted the country. Charlotte, she believes, has not been excluded.
“We’re not going to run away from those stories,” she said. “It’s a moment in time when as journalists we have a responsibility to cover public safety in a way that holds law enforcement accountable. We know they have tough jobs. But we’ve learned that we need to be more skeptical, more curious, to ask tougher questions and demand that they be answered.
“We have to show that we care about every citizen in our city. ... Sometimes that means we have to be a bigger pain. But if that’s what it takes to keep people safe, that’s what we’ll do.”
In her role as the top editor in Savannah, Cash oversees the Augusta Chronicle and Athens Banner-Herald for Gannett. She also mentors journalists nationwide.
Roberts described Cash as a “transformative leader.”
“She knows — and has demonstrated — the power of great journalism to drive digital growth and business success,” Roberts said in a statement announcing the hire.
“She shares our commitment to the mission of independent, essential journalism that serves the full community. And she is an advocate for deep community engagement that ensures we create unique value for our readers, viewers and listeners every day.”
Pam Sander, Gannett’s Southeast regional editor, said Cash has expanded the reach and impact of the three papers she supervised.
“Rana has been a remarkable leader for the Savannah newsroom and our other Gannett newspapers in Georgia. She has led our efforts to greatly improve how we cover our communities,” Sander said Wednesday.
Cash says her historic role as the Observer’s first Black executive editor carries a significant responsibility — of helping produce relevant and essential journalism for a more diverse audience, both in the daily print newspaper and the Observer’s 24-hour online platform.
“As a journalist first, and as a woman of color, I’m sensitive to the topics of equity and inequity, of diversity and inclusion,” Cash said. “Not only in how we cover Charlotte, but in how our newsroom looks like Charlotte. We will not be telling stories about communities of color but for communities of color.”
Cash, a 1992 graduate of Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, recalls Charlotte as a city of great gifts and enormous potential as well as a “beautiful place to live.” She said she’s happy to be coming back.
One last promise to her new neighbors:
Cash says that she and other members of the Observer newsroom will make sure “that your day, your night and your week are not complete until you’ve come to our sites.”
This story was originally published August 25, 2021 at 9:01 AM.
