Hearst names new Enterprise publisher

BEAUMONT - Aubrey L. Webb, Enterprise publisher for 19 years, will become publisher emeritus with new responsibilities and will be succeeded as the newspaper's top manager by John Newhouse, former publisher of newspapers in Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida.

George B. Irish, president of Enterprise parent company Hearst Newspapers, made the announcement Monday afternoon in the Enterprise newsroom.

Newhouse will take over Thursday.

Newhouse was publisher of the Alexandria, La., Town Talk, a Gannett newspaper, from 1996 to 2005, before moving to Gannett's Jackson Clarion-Ledger. He previously worked for the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group at newspapers in Florida, Mississippi and North Carolina.

Webb joined The Enterprise as advertising director in 1983, was named general manager of the newspaper in 1985 and publisher in 1988. The Texas Daily Newspaper Association honored him as Texas Newspaper Leader of the Year for 2001.

Read more in Tuesday's Beaumont Enterprise