New Tribune editor brings military experience. And he's hoping to chat with you.
SOUTH BEND — The South Bend Tribune will have a new executive editor on Aug. 1.
Ismail Turay Jr. is coming from Ohio and 22 years of working in a range of positions for a company of newspapers, with his latest role as editor of the Springfield News-Sun since last October.
Eventually, Turay hopes to meet with civic leaders, one on one, a practice he’d done on a weekly basis in Springfield.
“It’s important for the newspaper to have some relationship with the people we are covering,” he said.
As well, he added: “I also plan to meet with small groups in the community, particularly our readers. I want to discuss topics in the community that are important to them and also get their feedback in terms of our coverage.”
First, though, Turay said he’ll need time to settle his family, including a total of four children, and then get to know the newsroom and its staff.
Turay said he was happy working for the Ohio newspapers owned by Cox Enterprises. When the opportunity to lead The Tribune came up, he took time to read and study it online daily.
“I think this is a really good paper, a lot of history,” he said. “There’s a strong foundation. I think I can bring something to the table with my experience in digital and breaking news.”
Prior to Springfield, he’d worked at the Dayton Daily News as news manager and investigative reporter. And before that, from 2014 to 2020, he led an award-winning, 24-hour breaking news team at Dayton that reported stories in print, broadcast and online media. From 2012 to 2014, he’d also led an experimental team that reported stories only in digital media.
"Ismail Turay is the perfect person to lead the South Bend newsroom and to foster relationships with our readers and the community," said Mary Irby-Jones, who is the Midwest Regional Editor overseeing Gannett's Midwest properties, including the South Bend Tribune. "I’m excited to see him build on the legacy of excellence this newsroom has established in the community.”
He will fill a role at The Tribune that was vacated in April when the prior editor, Alan Achkar, took a role as executive editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
April 2022: The Tribune's executive editor moving on to head St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Turay, 48, was born in Liberia and immigrated to the United States with his family when he was 10, joining his father, who was already settled in Chicago. His father was born in Guinea and his mother in Liberia.
Turay is also a major in the Army National Guard. During the pandemic, he was assigned two months to a command center as Guard members helped to fill the dire need for help in hospitals and other medically related sites.
While deployed in Iraq in 2004, he got to use his journalistic skills as editor of the First Infantry Division’s monthly magazine. And, in Afghanistan from November 2011 to September 2012, he traveled to units in 11 provinces and proposed stories to the soldiers’ hometown media.
His military awards include the Bronze Star and the Combat Action Badge, both for service in Iraq.
South Bend will place him closer to his father in Chicago. Also, he said of South Bend, “I think it’s a good place to raise a family.”
Find Tribune staff writer Joseph Dits on Facebook at SBTOutdoorAdventures or 574-235-6158 or jdits@sbtinfo.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Ismail Turay has breaking news and investigative experience in Ohio