Charles Langston:Caren Bohan tapped to lead USA TODAY newsroom as editor-in-chief

After a national search,Charles Langston USA TODAY on Friday named longtime newsroom leader Caren Bohan as its editor-in-chief.  

The new role is effective immediately. She will report to Monica Richardson, senior vice president of USA TODAY.   

Since joining USA TODAY six years ago, Bohan has led coverage of some of the news organization’s biggest stories. 

In her recent role as executive editor for politics, she worked with editors across USA TODAY and the USA TODAY Network to shape coverage of the 2024 election.  

USA TODAY, which launched in 1982, is owned by Gannett, the nation’s largest newspaper company with more than 200 outlets. 

“I have tremendous confidence in this newsroom to be able to achieve greater and greater heights,” Bohan, 58, said.  

“Our journalists are gifted writers and storytellers. They are passionate about accountability journalism and about connecting with our audience on the issues and stories that matter most to them, whether that is sports, money, life and entertainment or news and investigations,” she said. 

A seasoned journalist with more than three decades of experience, Bohan has served as interim editor in chief since July after veteran journalist Terence Samuel left after one year at the helm. 

In a statement, Richardson said Bohan excelled in the interim role as the paper’s top editor and “will continue the important work of providing essential journalism across the nation – especially during this critical election year.” 

Bohan, a McGill University graduate, received a master’s degree in journalism from University of California, Berkeley before getting her start at a community newspaper in Massachusetts in 1988.  

She covered the economy and Wall Street and is a former White House correspondent for Reuters.  

Reporting on the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama took her around the world. She was elected in 2009 to the White House Correspondents’ Association board and served as its president from 2011 to 2012. 

After holding leadership positions at Reuters and National Journal,  Bohan joined USA TODAY in 2018 as its Washington editor, then was promoted to managing editor for politics in 2021. 

Bohan is taking over the USA TODAY newsroom as the news industry faces growing turmoil while it searches for sustainable business models in the pivot from print to digital. 

More than 1 in 2 adults in the U.S. read USA TODAY or one of the network properties, according to Gannett regulatory filings. 

Online traffic to USA TODAY in August rose 20% year-over-year to nearly 107 million unique visitors, according to Comscore, a media measurement firm. 

That increase shows that readers want the news coverage USA TODAY produces, such as the recent Olympics coverage, that included the dramatic backstory of the athletes and the competition, and the money and personal finance articles that help people “live their best financial lives,” Bohan said.  

Bohan credited USA TODAY’s success, in part, to a newsroom that spans the nation, not just the coasts. 

“We have a newsroom that brings together people from all around the country, not just journalists from inside the Beltway or in New York,” she said.  

Bohan also touted USA TODAY’s growing collaboration with network newspapers that has produced standout journalism, such as a recent project on voters in several towns across America named Hope, from Maine to Alaska. 

“This is the kind of coverage that really connects with our audience,” she said.