AJR  The Beat
From AJR,   November 2002

Lure of the Lone Star   

Keven Ann Willey departs the Arizona Republic to become editorial page editor of the Dallas Morning News.

By Kathryn S. Wenner
Kathryn S. Wenner, a former AJR associate editor, is a copy editor at the Washington Post.     


The Dallas Morning News persuades Keven Ann Willey to leave Gannett's Arizona Republic after 22 years to become its new editorial page editor. Willey, 44, who has held that title in Phoenix for nearly five years, says she was so happy in her job that "I practically laughed when I got the first call. I'm surprised I got the second call. They were relentless." Before joining the Republic's editorial board in 1993, Willey spent 12 years writing about politics, from the state Legislature to presidential campaigns, an interest perhaps fostered by her mother, a "news junkie" who took her infant daughter with her to watch U.S. Senate debates. Willey says she strove to make the Republic's editorial page more provocative, adding more voice, attitude and humor. The Belo-owned Dallas paper, she says, is giving her the opportunity to do that "on a large stage," with a staff she praises for its "depth of knowledge about Dallas and Texas and what makes the communities tick. I'd like to find ways to showcase that."

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