Patrick Beeson

A lot of things have been changing at Scripps lately. Some good. Some not so good.

But the recent reorganization at the Scripps Interactive Group in Knoxville, Tenn. has provided me the opportunity for an exciting new position -- a position that will truly leverage my understanding and passion for online media.

My new title is "content manager," the responsibilities of which were described in the obligatory company e-mail as follows:

...lead our content-related projects, serve as the liaison for Yahoo! content initiatives, research and advise on best practices in online content strategy among Scripps properties and competitors, and serve as an expert on Scripps' content management system.

Scripps, as most of my fellow media geeks know, is part of the Yahoo! Newspaper Consortium. A group that is so big (at least 779 papers strong), it's now a proper noun, though for some reason nobody has purchased the domain.

And we are on the bleeding edge on all fronts.

My new role will transition me from project management for APT (ad-serving) and many other projects, to more content-focused initiatives. This includes projects such as news feeds, You Witness News, Buzz and Search Monkey.

I'm also an Ellington junkie, and have become quite familiar with the Django-based content management system in my almost two years with Scripps. Of course, it's been heavily modified from stock, and features a ton of very smart apps courtesy our equally smart development team. I'll help guide our sites on the best practices for taking advantage of said smartness.

And I'm very excited about receiving the chance to apply my online media experience and research working with the most talented folks in the industry, both in Knoxville and with our sites across the nation. Scripps is the best-positioned news company to succeed where failure is all to often a constant reality.

I try to keep tabs on what most folks are doing via Twitter, LinkedIn and the blogosphere, but if you're an online media type, please get in touch. I'd love to talk shop, and figure out how we can build relationships to ensure the success for online media going forward.