Published: 12/29/2021 4:11:00 PM
Dan Crowley, currently the Daily Hampshire Gazette’s managing news editor, will take over leadership of the Gazette, Greenfield Recorder, Athol Daily News, Amherst Bulletin, and Valley Advocate as the Pioneer Valley executive editor.
Crowley, 51, is a veteran community journalist who joined the Gazette as a reporter in 2001.
“It’s an honor to lead and work alongside the very talented and hard-working news teams at these newspapers,” Crowley said. “These are treasured community institutions and we know our readers set high expectations for our work.”
He succeeds Joan Livingston, who will be retiring Jan. 7 from journalism after more than 35 years working at newspapers in Massachusetts and New Mexico.
“After conducting a nationwide search and speaking with several skilled candidates, I realized that those editors’ accomplishments in other markets were no match for Dan’s accomplishments in our own,” Publisher Shawn Palmer said. “I believe Dan is the absolute best leader for our newsrooms and will not only provide stability, but also a new vision focused on growing our audience across multiple platforms.”
Crowley, originally from the Boston area, has a degree in anthropology and history from Connecticut College and a master’s in journalism from Indiana University.
He worked as a freelance journalist for several publications in the Midwest before joining the Gazette. His first day was the morning of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Since then, he has covered many beats, particularly as a local government, enterprise and investigative reporter.
Crowley says he looks forward to connecting more with readers in the year ahead.
“The pandemic has shown us, more than ever, how important it is to remain a trusted source of accurate, unbiased, and useful news and information,” Crowley said. “Our core mission is to deliver timely local news that matters, online and in print, and we will do so unwaveringly moving forward. If there are areas where we can strengthen our newsgathering efforts and the digital experience for readers, we want to hear them.”
Crowley’s work has earned him top awards in New England on many occasions, including in 2006 when the Gazette received the Thomas K. Brindley award for public service for his coverage of the financial mismanagement of the county’s anti-poverty agency.
He was named managing news editor in 2016 shortly after being recognized with an investigative reporting award for a series of stories detailing lax state inspections of funeral homes.
Livingston will be staying on through January to help with the transition.
“The papers will be fortunate to have a leader who knows the area well and has strong skills as a journalist,” she said. “I know this firsthand, having worked with Dan, as his editor when he first started at the Gazette, and more recently, as part of the newspaper’s team of editors.”