New editorial page editor takes over this week
This is a day of transition at The Dispatch. Barbara Carmen retired as editorial page editor on Friday after 32 years at the paper, and Mary Yost has taken over as the new editor responsible for the Editorial, Forum and Letters pages.
Carmen became our interim editorial page editor last April, and we knew then that she would be with us for less than a year because she and her husband had retirement plans in the works.
The Columbus native embraced her final assignment at The Dispatch in the same fashion that she did her earlier assignments as reporter, columnist and editorial writer: upholding high standards for accuracy and fairness. She also came to work each day full of enthusiasm, passion, compassion, a sense of urgency and the desire to inform and engage the central Ohio community in conversation on important topics.
That means that some of our editorials have been sunshine and roses — applauding those who do well, highlighting the beauty in people and places within central Ohio, and lifting up the overlooked or under-appreciated accomplishments of individuals or organizations.
It also means that we have comforted the afflicted while also afflicting the comfortable. In other words, we have held a mirror to the community to expose uncomfortable truths for those who might not readily see or recognize them. In such cases, we seek not just to point out problems but also to offer possible solutions — and call for action in the hope of positive change.
Always a reporter at heart, Carmen was never chained to her desk. She got out of the office to meet with sources, attend hearings and generally talk with people face-to-face in the places where they live, work and play.
We will miss her passion for good journalism, and also her easy smile and good humor. Carmen has been a source of positive energy in our newsroom for more than three decades.
Like Carmen, Yost is a native of this community and a lifelong resident. It’s clear that she loves this place we all call home and wants nothing but the best for it. That’s not a requirement for the job, but it helps.
It’s important that the person leading the opinion section of the paper knows the community well. She is an ambassador for the newspaper, one who meets with many people to assess the needs and desires of the community, including the best candidates to endorse at election time. She also is a reporter and researcher who works to build a reasoned opinion on a foundation of facts. And she is a community leader by virtue of the role she plays in helping to decide our editorial positions.
Yost also is a warmhearted, earnest, hard worker who upholds the highest standards in journalism.
She is an Ohio State University graduate who started at The Dispatch as an intern in 1973 and was hired as a reporter in 1974.
She worked the night shift for three years, then covered suburbs for three years before moving to the court beat. She worked on the projects desk, then covered county government for a year, and she became the first woman on the Public Affairs Desk in 1988. From that desk, she covered the Ohio Statehouse and Supreme Court, with a special emphasis on health care, education and human services.
She left The Dispatch in 1992 for a job with the Ohio Hospital Association as senior director of public affairs, and subsequently was promoted to become the association’s first woman vice president. In that role, she handled media relations, public relations and communication for member hospitals statewide.
Yost left the association in late 2012 and became editor of Columbus CEO, a Dispatch Media Group publication, in January 2014. She held that position until last week, when she moved one floor up in our building to join the Dispatch Editorial staff.
Yost has lived in Gahanna since high school. She has two adult children and two grandsons. She was married to her high school sweetheart, Tom, for 40 years before losing him to leukemia in 2014.
She has said several times that early in her career, she decided that her dream job was editorial page editor at The Dispatch. We are happy for her — and for you — that she is able to fulfill that dream starting this week.