Kirkpatrick named editor at Sun Tribune, Basin Business journal

MOSES LAKE — Bob Kirkpatrick took a different route into journalism. Most professionals in the field graduate high school, go on to college and get into the business right after receiving their diploma.

Kirkpatrick, who recently took over the reins as editor at the weekly Sun Tribune newspaper and monthly Basin Business Journal, spent 19 years as an outside salesman in the construction industry in western Washington. He got tired of simply working to support his family and not doing what he was truly interested in.

“Growing up in the 60s I developed a watchdog mentality and have had a passion for the media industry ever since,” Kirkpatrick said. “It wasn’t until later in my life I actually got an opportunity to pursue that passion when I enrolled in college and got my bachelor’s degree in communication with a dual major in print and broadcast journalism at Central Washington University.”

His first job out of college was in Twin Falls, Idaho. Following that he was editor of the Leavenworth Echo and Cashmere Valley Record, after which he made the move to Othello and was named editor at the Othello Outlook. From 2009 to 2011 Kirkpatrick toiled away in Othello before landing a gig at the Columbia Basin Herald as sports editor. In 2013 he decided to finally put that broadcast journalism emphasis to work, and was hired as sports editor at iFiber One News in Ephrata. After his employment at iFiber ended, Kirkpatrick was out of work for about a couple of months until he was hired on as editor at The Daily World in Aberdeen.

“I was over there for 10 months wasn’t actively looking for anything,” Kirkpatrick said. “I received a call in early February from Columbia Basin Herald Publisher Eric LaFontaine who I had previously worked for when he was running the show at the Outlook. He said he had posted the job online and asked if I was interested in applying, and I told him I was.”

Kirkpatrick ended up getting the nod for the editor position at the Sun Tribune, which focuses on south Grant County and Othello in Adams County, and the Basin Business Journal, and started re-immersing himself back into an area that he is already well accustomed to.

“You really get the chance to establish roots in smaller communities and write stories that bring local folks together. And that for me is really rewarding,” he remarked. “People actually appreciate that and wonder where their newspaper is when it doesn’t show up.”

An immediate goal for the Sun Tribune? Kirkpatrick said he wants to look into redesigning the overall feel of the newspaper and really hone in on the community focus of the publication.

You can get your state and regional and national news anywhere,” he said. “But you can’t really get local community news anywhere else but the local community newspaper.”