DETROIT — Peter Bhatia announced to newspaper staffers Friday that he will be stepping down as Editor and Vice President of the Detroit Free Press ahead of anticipated layoffs.
The announcement was made at a Friday morning virtual staffwide meeting, according to three Free Press sources apprised of the decision.
The move comes after Bhatia informed the staff earlier this month that the newsroom would be impacted by Gannett-forced layoffs. On Dec. 12, the staff was informed its cost-target cut could potentially include five reporters, four assistant editors, three website producers, one photographer and one editorial assistant.
Bhatia and senior editors of the Free Press could not immediately be reached Friday.
Bhatia did not name a replacement for his position; however, he is expected to depart with any other laid-off employees next month.
Bhatia, a multiple Pulitzer Prize-winning editor, has spearheaded journalism and digital advances at numerous news sites across the country. He joined the Free Press in September 2017, after two years as editor and vice president of the Cincinnati Enquirer and cincinnati.com.
Bhatia previously was director of the Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism at Arizona State's Cronkite School of Journalism. He joined the university in June 2014 as visiting professor in journalism ethics after a two-decade career at the Oregonian in Portland, where he was editor. His resume includes helping lead newsrooms that won 10 Pulitzer Prizes, including six in Portland.
He is also a seven-time Pulitzer juror. He is the first journalist of South Asian descent to lead a major daily newspaper in the U.S., running the Oregonian from 2010 to 2014. Bhatia is a longtime member of the Asian American Journalist Association, a nonprofit dedicated to enhancing newsroom diversity.
