Former News-Sentinel publisher to get state award
Marty Weybret, the Lodi News-Sentinel’s long-time former publisher, said he was humbled to learn he would be receiving a lifetime achievement award from a state association that preserves the history and traditions of California journalism.
“It’s humbling because not only am I being honored by a group of publishers I admire,” he said. “But to be recognized by the number of employees who nominated me is just astounding.”
Nine former News-Sentinel employees nominated Weybret for the Philip N. McCombs Achievement Award, which honors distinguished publishers who are no longer fully active in the industry but have served their communities well for an extended period, and have made lasting contributions to the industry and its traditions.
The California Press Foundation will present the award to Weybret at its 142nd annual winter meeting at the Marines’ Memorial Club and Hotel in San Francisco on Dec. 5 and 6.
Weybret, 67, said he only deserved the award because of the people with whom he both worked and employed during his career at the News-Sentinel.
“The newspaper business has never been one that paid a tippy-top salary,” Weybret said. “They weren’t at the News-Sentinel for the salary. They were there because they loved journalism and what newspapers stood for. The fact they’d think of me years after their times at the News-Sentinel is very touching.”
Weybret praised his former colleagues and employees for the time they put in bringing attention to issues not only in Lodi, but those in the state to help make both the News-Sentinel and the newspaper industry in general, better.
“They put their time in willingly and got much more from it than they gave,” he said.
Some of those employees included Allen Matthews, who went on to work at the San Francisco Chronicle and is currently the executive director at the Daily Californian newspaper at the University of California Berkeley, and editor Rich Hanner, who left the NewsSentinel in 2015 and retired from journalism last year.
Weybret called Matthews a very distinguished newspaper man who has dedicated his career to the journalism industry, and cited Hanner as the best editor the News-Sentinel had in its 138-year existence.
Matthews and Hanner were two of the nine former News-Sentinel employees who signed the petition to nominate Weybret, he said.
Hanner said Weybret was a man of integrity who was not only a great journalist, but a great friend.
“Marty was a wonderful community newspaper publisher,” Hanner said. “He was active, and remains active in the community that he loves passionately. He was a mentor to me, and certainly to everyone at the News-Sentinel. He’s richly deserving of this honor.”
Outside of the NewsSentinel, Weybret has remained an active member of Lodi’s civic community, serving as a LodiTokay Rotary Club member since 1985. He was the organization’s president during the 2002-2003 term.
He is a member of the Lodi Boys and Girls Club’s Hall of Fame nominating committee, joining in 1999, and serving as its chair since 2000.
In addition, he has served as a past member of the Lawrence Elementary School Parent Teacher Association; the Boosters of Boys and Girls Sports; the American Youth Soccer Association; and Delta Health Care, a nonprofit agency furnishing low-cost family planning and pre- and post-natal services to lowincome patients.
Founded in 1881, Weybret’s father Fred purchased the News-Sentinel in 1959.
Weybret himself would start his career in newspapers as a paperboy for the publication while he attended Lodi schools.
During his college years at San Jose State University, he worked as an intern reporter for United Press International in Hawaii, and after graduating in 1974, he was a reporter for the Tracy Press and a copy editor for The News of Mexico City before returning to the News-Sentinel in 1979.
Weybret became the paper’s editor in 1985, then took over publishing duties from his father in 1998.
Fred Weybret remained chairman of the NewsSentinel until its sale in 2015, and also received the McCombs award in 2008.
“Really, for both Marty and Fred, this is a wonderful legacy that’s being celebrated,” Hanner added. “The fact that Fred was honored, and now Marty (being honored)... it’s a testament to their commitment to journalism and the Lodi community.”