About The Virginian-Pilot / Newsroom Staff Directory

The Virginian-Pilot is owned by Landmark Communications Inc., a privately held nationwide media company based in Norfolk. Landmark publishes seven daily newspapers, including the Roanoke (Va.) Times and the News & Record, of Greensboro, N.C., as well as 31 nondaily newspapers in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, New Mexico and Virginia.

Landmark also owns and operates The Weather Channel, the 24-hour cable TV network based in Atlanta.

Operations

The Virginian-Pilot publishes two morning editions: one for our North Carolina readers, another for residents of South Hampton Roads and the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Until Aug. 25, 1995, the company published an afternoon edition, The Ledger-Star.

North Carolina readers receive an edition that carries, primarily, local news, but editors also strive to make sure that significant state news is included.

The metro edition carries the top news of the day from the core cities that make up the area: Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Portsmouth and Suffolk. It also includes news of the Eastern Shore and the Peninsula. This edition is circulated, in small numbers, as far north as Richmond.

The metro edition goes to press shortly after midnight and may be updated until about 1 a.m. if major news occurs. The N.C. edition deadline is 10:45 p.m.

A major goal of the newspaper is to deliver the metro edition to homes by 5:30 a.m. Monday through Saturday and by 6 a.m. on Sunday.

How the paper is organized

The Pilot has five main daily sections: A-section, Hampton Roads, Sports, Daily Break and Business. On certain days other sections appear.

The lettering of the sections is standard: A = main news; B = Hampton Roads; C = Sports; D = Business; E = Daily Break; F = Flavor; G = Classified; H = Automotive Classified; and J = Commentary. On Sunday, Gracious Living is the F section.

Each week, The Virginian-Pilot also publishes nine community-tabloid editions, which contain news of particular interest to readers in the cities they serve. The Beacon appears Thursday and Sunday in papers that go to Virginia Beach residents. The Compass appears Thursday for Norfolk readers. The Clipper appears Friday and Sunday for Chesapeake readers. The Currents appears Sunday for Portsmouth readers, the Western Branch section of Chesapeake and a few homes in the Bennetts Creek section of Suffolk. The Sun appears Thursday and Sunday for readers in Suffolk, Southampton and Isle of Wight counties in Virginia, and the bordering North Carolina counties of Gates and Hertford. The Coast is distributed as a weekly guide for things to do on the Outer Banks.

How the newsroom is organized

The newsroom is organized into teams. There are 15 reporting teams and teams responsible for design, photography, graphics, copy editing, support and administration.

The newspaper’s top editors are part of the Newsroom Leadership Team, and they are responsible for the overall direction of the newsroom. That team includes the editor, the managing editor, four deputy managing editors, the director of news operations and the director of staff development.

Our reporting teams include: Chesapeake; Virginia Beach; Portsmouth; Norfolk; Suffolk; North Carolina; military; narrative; investigative; business; features; sports; state, which includes Richmond, transportation, the environment and federal and civil courts; and regional issues, which includes religion, diversity and health.

About 250 people work in the newsroom, including reporters, photographers, editors, page designers, graphic artists, librarians and editorial assistants.