Don Hudson named managing editor of Newsday

Newsday announced Wednesday that senior assistant managing editor Don Hudson has been named managing editor, succeeding Richard Rosen, who is retiring next year.

Hudson and Rosen will work together as managing editors until Rosen, 70, retires April 1.

"Rich and Don teamed up to lead our in-depth coverage of the many ways the pandemic has affected Long Island. Don directed the work of an expanded health team and our education and local towns reporters in reporting on the fast-changing news developments. Rich led editors around the newsroom covering the stories of businesses shuttered, lifestyles altered and community resources stretched to their limit. Rich and Don will continue with strong, thoughtful local coverage as our community re-emerges," said Deborah Henley, editor of Newsday.

Hudson, 60, joined the staff of Newsday in 2018. As managing editor, he said, he intends to continue to grow Newsday’s audience online, on video and in print.

"It's about storytelling on different platforms," he said. "We're going to continue our hard-hitting journalism, starting with the investigative side, and it's going to extend all the way across the board to all of our departments, from sports to communities to business to features."

Originally from Shreveport, Louisiana, Hudson was inspired to become a journalist by his high school journalism teacher, Robert Trudeau. "It was just his enthusiasm for the business back then, and that’s something I’ve tried to maintain, basically my entire career," he said.

Hudson earned his bachelor’s degree in radio/television management from the University of Louisiana at Monroe. He started his career as a reporter and went on to work as an editor at the Orlando Sentinel; as a managing editor at Gannett Co. Inc., in Tennessee, Michigan and Mississippi, where he helped shape civil-rights coverage that was named a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize; and as executive editor of The Decatur Daily in Alabama.

Hudson, who lives in Farmingdale with his wife Miriam, a former first-grade teacher, is president of the New York chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen, a motorcycle club whose members do community service work, including in the Wyandanch school district. He has ridden his red Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic as far as Maine and Detroit, he said.

As managing editor since 2011, Rosen has overseen coverage of major news stories such as the pandemic and Superstorm Sandy, as well as award-winning projects, including Long Island Divided, a three-year, undercover investigation of housing discrimination that won a George Polk Award, a Peabody Award and an Emmy Award, and Newsday’s coverage of police misconduct, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2014. Prior to Newsday, Rosen was a managing editor of the New York Daily News and Women’s Wear Daily and was an editor at Bloomberg News, The New York Times and The Star-Ledger of Newark after starting his career as a reporter in 1972. He graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

"In addition to their strong journalism skills and accomplishments, Rich and Don also share a deep regard for strong community coverage and an enthusiasm to mentor others," Henley said.

By Maura McDermott

maura.mcdermott@newsday.commauramcdermott

Maura McDermott is a reporter on the investigations desk. Since starting at Newsday in 2012, she has also covered real estate and the business of health care.