Marlon A. Walker has been named executive editor of the Clarion Ledger in Jackson and the Mississippi state editor for the USA TODAY Network, which includes the Hattiesburg American.
Walker, a Detroit native and award-winning journalist, has spent the last decade advocating for improved diversity and equal pay in newsrooms. He begins his new role immediately.
"This is beyond exciting," Walker said during a virtual announcement. “I look at Mississippi and everything this state has to offer and I want to continue doing what we do best — telling the unique and compelling stories of this community.”
Walker succeeds Mary Irby-Jones, who in March became executive editor of the Courier Journal in Louisville, Kentucky.