Two new editors began work at The Reflector Jan. 13.
Jed Pressgrove replaced Jessica Powers as assistant news editor, and Jeff Edwards replaced former sports editor Craig Peters.
Pressgrove, a junior journalism major from Cascilla, switched to news after writing DVD reviews for the entertainment section during the fall semester. He formerly attended Holmes Community College in Grenada and wrote film reviews for the campus newspaper, The Growl. He was also the Phi Theta Kappa reporter at Holmes.
“Writing is what I like to do, and I feel that this position would help me in possible future endeavors,” Pressgrove said. “I want to be the most efficient editor I can be.”
Reflector editor in chief Josh Foreman said he’s eager to see the talents that Jed will bring to the newsroom.
“Jed is someone who’s kind of new to the staff,” Foreman said. “But he’s very enthusiastic and he has a lot of interesting ideas that the average person doesn’t have.
“I think he will bring a lot of originality and freshness to the department.”
Edwards, a senior journalism major from Florence, Ala., said he has several changes he would like to implement into the sports section.
“I’d like to have an editorial every Friday for all the writers to have more of a chance to express themselves,” he said. “Also I’m going to do more features and more national sports coverage instead of just Mississippi State.”
Edwards was a sports writer for a year and a half, but decided he wanted to become more involved in The Reflector.
“I wanted to control the way the paper came out,” he said. “I think it would be neat to see the paper and know that you were the one that did it that way.”
Edwards graduates in the summer, and his goal is to be a sports writer, possibly for The Tennessean in Nashville.
“Jeff has been on staff for a while, and he’s proven himself as a talented writer,” Foreman said. “I think he’s mature and more than capable at taking over as sports editor.”
He added: “He had a lot of fresh ideas during interviews. It was a tough decision, but I know he’ll succeed.”
Foreman also said he’s anticipating improvements in news coverage for the spring semester.
“I’m looking forward to aggressive coverage of city elections and SA elections,” he said. “I think the elections coming up are very important in deciding what Starkville will be like for the next four years. I know it’s going to be interesting to us and make for good news coverage.”
Bowers is still a news reporter for The Reflector. Peters graduated in December and is now a sports reporter for the Forsyth County News near Atlanta.