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KINGSPORT – Kingsport’s Rick Thomason can officially add his latest role as the new president of the Tennessee Press Association to his roster.
Thomason is the editor of Kingsport Times News and Johnson City Press. He is also president of Six Rivers Media, the parent company of two newspapers, a digital platform and three other newspapers in Northeast Tennessee. Recently, Thomason was named the new president of the TPA 2021-2022.
“It is truly an honor to have been chosen to lead the board of directors of the Tennessee Press Association,” said Thomason. “The organization does important work on behalf of the media in this state. But the real credit goes to the full-time staff who carry out policies approved by the board of directors and closely monitor legislation that could impact the press. “
Thomason joined TPA’s board of directors in 2020. The new president is a 41-year veteran in the newspaper industry. He has been a general journalist, sports journalist, sports editor, editor-in-chief of weeklies and dailies, and editor of weeklies and dailies in the North and South-East.
Throughout his tenure in the newspaper, he said the pandemic could be his toughest challenge yet. But this is the one he took pleasure in facing.
“It’s an exciting time to be in the press, not only in Tennessee, but across the country and the world,” Thomason said. “It is also perhaps the most trying time of my 41 year career with constant attacks and now the pandemic. On the other hand, for these same reasons, our work is more important than ever. We have the unique ability and skills to serve our communities with the news and publicity they need and want. No one else can do that.
TPA is the trade association for the state’s daily and non-daily newspapers. It is made up of 18 daily newspapers and 113 non-daily newspapers. Thomason succeeds Daniel Richardson, editor of the Carroll County News Leader and vice president of Magic Valley Publishing, Inc., as president of the TPA.
The TPA typically holds a conference for its members at which the winners of its annual awards competition are named. This year’s conference lunch will be on Friday in Franklin, where Richardson will pass the presidential gavel to Thomason.
Going forward, Thomason said, he’s looking to bring TPA to the hills of northeast Tennessee.
“Even to think of a state-wide conference that we had just a few years ago seems unfathomable right now,” Thomason said. “But when we come back to planning such events – and we will – I will certainly make a pitch for hosting a TPA conference or meeting in Northeast Tennessee. We not only have great facilities for a meeting, but we also have world-class recreation for attendees to bring their families and make it a vacation. What could be better than that? ”
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