UPDATED: Another great local reporter moves on

Former Sun reporter Chris Keegan lands new gig

By Will Collette

UPDATE: Chris e-mailed me to report that he has started a new job as associate editor for the Northeast Independent - the sister paper to the South County Independent that covers North Kingstown and East Greenwich. Best of luck, Chris.

This is the fourth time in Progressive Charlestown’s short history that we’ve done a farewell and good luck piece to one of the local reporters who have covered Charlestown news.

First there was Andrew Martin at the Chariho Times and then the Sun’s Cassidy Swanson and Andrew’s replacement at the Times, Anthony aRusso. Michael Souza was on the Sun’s staff briefly and during his short tenure, he also covered Charlestown. Charlestown’s current beat report is the talented veteran print reporter David Pepin.

Now one of the most experienced Sun beat reporters, Chris Keegan, is moving on to a new and hopefully very rewarding new gig. Chris is leaving the Sun as of December 30 and will let us know about his new job when he starts, hopefully soon.

Chris is 32 and made his bones covering Charlestown stories. He started as an intern at the Sun in 2004. Chris says “the highlight of my time at the Sun” was covering the tumultuous two-year tenure of Jim Mageau on the Charlestown Town Council (2006-2008).

Chris not only reported on the infamous tiff between Mageau and CCA leader Cliff Vanover but was also called as a witness twice in the trial arising from Vanover’s assault charge against Mageau for pushing away the video camera Vanover had shoved into Mageau’s face.

Chris also broke the story this past fall about the extraordinary criminal records of the two people who ran against Rep. Donna Walsh. Donna faced Republican nominee Tina Jackson, who had been arrested a couple of dozen times for drugs, DUI, bad checks, assault, and dangerous driving. Donna’s independent opponent Kevin Prescott had an equally long rap sheet. 

These candidates’ records were largely unknown until Chris broke the story – and the backs of these candidates’ campaigns.

Not that it was Chris’s intent, since Chris has been the consummate professional journalist with numerous RI Press Association awards to prove it. Most recently, his weekend editing work led to the Sun winning the 2012 Distinguished Daily Newspaper of the Year award from the New England Newspaper and Press Association.

It’s tough to be a career journalist as the very nature of journalism undergoes a profound shake-up. Print journalism has been taking heavy hits as corporate owners focus on cutting back on staff and costs to keep profits up in the face of declining readership.

That has been a slippery slope for much of the print media, since cutting staff usually leads to less coverage and lesser quality, which then leads to a further decline in subscribers. Eliminating all of its local news bureaus didn't help the Providence Journal’s numbers and did little for the bottom line of the Dallas-based ProJo owners, the Belo Corp.

Local papers have been re-trenching as well. The South County Independent was merged with its sister paper, the North East Independent and cut staff. The Southern Rhode Island Newspapers (SRN), publishers of the Chariho Times, made drastic staff cuts. 

When Anthony aRusso left the Chariho Times, he was not replaced. And, most recently, SRN has dropped its link to the Chariho Times from its website. Which is just as well, since they've had the same story on Chariho Furniture posted as the lead story for the Chariho Times website for the past two months.

I hope Chris stays in print journalism. The hunger for news and for good reporting is still there, even though the way people get that news is going through profound changes.

Good luck in your next gig, Chris, and please stay in touch.