05-04-2011 STAR PUBLISHER RUMORED TO BE TAKING POSITION WITH McCLATCHY COS The rumor mill is running fast and furious inside and outside the Kansas City Star that Mark Zieman, president and publisher of the Kansas City Star since March 2008, will be stepping down from that position. He reportedly will assume a new position as Vice President of Operations at the Star's parent company, McClatchy Company, in Sacramento. Zieman, 50, has overseen a number of staff cuts since 2008 with the most recent occurring Monday (5/2) involving about two dozen employees and the closure of two suburban newspapers. Last month he also directed the sale of three Star properties in KC. Zieman previously served as the newspaper's editor and vice president where he directed a 290-person news staff and helped develop the paper's digital strategy. Since January 2008, he had held the additional title of interim publisher, replacing Mac Tully who left the paper to join MediaNews Group. Born in El Dorado, KS, Zieman, 50, has spent most of his career in The Kansas City Star newsroom, beginning with an editorial internship in 1982 while attending college at the University of Kansas. After graduating with a degree in journalism, Zieman joined the Houston bureau of The Wall Street Journal. He returned to The Kansas City Star as an investigative reporter in 1986 and rose through the newsroom management. He became projects editor in 1989, managing editor in 1992 and was named editor in 1997. As projects editor, Zieman directed the paper's examination of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting. In addition to his journalism degree from the University of Kansas, Zieman holds an Executive MBA from Rockhurst University. He is married to former Kansas City Star columnist Rhonda Chriss Lokeman. The couple have four daughters.
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