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The KPCC newsroom in Pasadena is adding longtime Orange County Register investigations editor Chris Knap. He will be an editor on the new regional desk, which is combining existing pods such as government, public safety, business and immigration. Evelyn Larrubia is the new regional desk editor. KPCC also hired Sandra Oshiro as education editor. Here are the memos from Kristen Muller, the managing editor for news gathering.
From: Muller, Kristen Sent: Monday, September 8, 2014 2:19 PM Subject: Staffing Announcement
I'm pleased to announce that Chris Knap will be joining KPCC as an editor on our new regional desk.Chris has spent the last 27 years at the Orange County Register where he's worn just about every hat in the building. As a reporter he covered aerospace, the auto industry, local and state government (including a brief stint in Sacramento). He also spent five years as an investigative reporter. His expose of an auto lease fraud scheme that targeted immigrant buyers led the state to revoke two dealers’ licenses and order millions in restitution to consumers. A series on hospital performance that he worked on with a team of medical reporters was a finalist for the 2004 Pulitzer in Explanatory Journalism.
For the last eight years Chris has served as the paper's Investigations Editor. He led a team of reporters who boosted print and online readers’ interest in government accountability with their OC Watchdog blog. The team won awards from IRE and NICAR, among others, and was a finalist for the Loeb this year for stories that showed how investment banks were selling public schools toxic loans that will cost taxpayers as much as 20 times the amount borrowed.
Chris began his journalism career in West Virginia at the Charleston Gazette where he covered state politics, including stories on public corruption that helped send the governor and two top legislators to federal prison. He got his degree in journalism from West Virginia University, where he did his first investigative reporting—a series on college professors who rented slum housing to students.
His experience in accountability journalism and regional issues will be a huge asset as we launch our new regional desk. Chris will work closely with me, Evelyn and Doug as we continue to hone the focus and coverage priorities for the team.
Chris starts on September 18th. He will report to Evelyn Larrubia. Please join me in welcoming him.
On Oshiro:
I'm excited to announce that we've hired Sandra Oshiro as our new Education Editor. Sandra is an experienced newsroom leader. She served as Managing Editor, Digital for Honolulu's largest newspaper, The Honolulu Advertiser. There, she helped the organization transition from a primarily print operation to a multi platform newsroom. She also directed a diversity initiative that broadened coverage of underserved communities and introduced reporters to more diverse sources. As a reporter in Hawaii, she covered government, business and was an early adopter of computer assisted reporting techniques. Sandee made the move to the mainland several years ago when she became the Regional Editor for 24 AOL Patch sites in California. She managed a team of 18 editors and organized the 2012 national and local election coverage. Most recently, Sandee worked as an Interim Editor for The Poynter Institute where she assisted in coverage of issues facing journalism and media. She's won several awards for her work, including a Public Service award from the Hawaii Chapter of Society of Professional Journalists for a series she and a colleague did on child abuse. Sandra received her B.A. from the University of Hawaii and her masters degree from Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism.
