John Ferraro joins Hearst to lead enterprise reporting

“The responsibility to serve our communities and readers is great. I’m looking forward to helping Hearst succeed in its vitally important mission.”

John Ferraro, Hearst Connecticut Media’s managing editor for enterprise and investigative reporting

John Ferraro, investigative editor at the Hartford Courant, will join Hearst Connecticut Media March 4 as managing editor for enterprise and investigative reporting, it was announced Tuesday.

He will oversee Hearst Connecticut’s growing state government and politics team, and help accelerate the company’s push for stronger local, regional and statewide accountability journalism.

“If it wasn’t already clear how serious we are about elevating the level of accountability journalism in Connecticut, John Ferraro’s hiring should be a strong indication,” said Matt DeRienzo, Hearst Connecticut’s vice president of news and digital content. “He’s as knowledgeable as any editor in this state about digging into powerful institutions and uncovering information that the average citizen needs to know.”

Prior to serving as investigative editor, Ferraro was state editor and a bureau chief at the Courant. Earlier in his career, he was an editor and reporter at the New Haven Register, and a reporter at the Norwalk Hour, both of which are now part of Hearst Connecticut. He is also a former editor of the Hartford Business Journal, and has taught news writing at Quinnipiac University.

“I’m excited about working with the terrific journalists at Heart Connecticut Media at a time when impactful, high-quality local journalism is critically important,” Ferraro said. “The investment Hearst has made in Connecticut is remarkable. The opportunities to produce high-end, exclusive content in the formats people want it — on digital and mobile devices and in print — are endless. The responsibility to serve our communities and readers is great. I’m looking forward to helping Hearst succeed in its vitally important mission.”

A series that Ferraro edited exposing flaws in the military’s mental health care system was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in investigative reporting. He was also part of the editing team for the Courant’s of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, which was a Pulitzer finalist for breaking news.

He was also the editor of stories that were recognized with the George Polk Award, Selden Ring Award, Worth Bingham Prize, Heywood Broun Award and the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism.

Hearst Connecticut is the largest local news organization in the state, publishing the daily New Haven Register, Connecticut Post, Stamford Advocate, Danbury News-Times, Greenwich Time, Norwalk Hour, Middletown Press and Torrington Register Citizen, in addition to Connecticut Magazine, numerous weekly newspapers and a statewide high school sports site, GameTimeCT.com.

It has greatly expanded its coverage of state government and politics recently, with veteran statecoverage house editor Ken Dixon being joined by statehouse reporter Emilie Munson, state politics reporter Kaitlyn Krasselt, investigative reporter Bill Cummings, state government and business columnist Dan Haar, and weekly columnist Colin McEnroe. Like Ferraro, Haar and McEnroe moved to Hearst from the Courant.

In addition to its own state government and politics team, Hearst recently partnered with the Connecticut Mirror and CT News Junkie, two online state government, politics and policy news organizations, using some of their coverage to free Hearst staff up to pursue stories that wouldn’t have been written by anyone in past years.