Published: November 12, 2006 10:29 pm      

The Star welcomes new circulation director, reporter

Richard “Ricky” Bryant’s overall goal for running the circulation department at The Meridian Star is to bring stability to a department that has seen many changes over the past few years.

“We want to let customers know we care about them and we want to be more responsive to both carriers and subscribers,” Bryant said.

Bryant joined The Star’s staff in late October. He came from the Longview News Journal in Longview, Texas. He was looking for a change at the same time The Star was looking to go in a new direction in circulation.

“The Meridian Star is fortunate to have Ricky join our management team,” said Publisher Crystal Dupré. “He brings a tremendous amount of knowledge and understanding of how an efficient circulation department is to run.

“I knew he was going to be a perfect fit for the Star’s team when he spoke so passionately about the importance of customer service and the importance of the newspaper’s role in the community.”

Bryant said one thing that impresses him about The Star is that it knows what its customers want and strives to deliver that product.

“We have talent, we have resources, we just need to channel them,” he said.

The biggest challenge the circulation department faces, he said, is that people can go almost anywhere to gather national news. He believes local newspapers must to strive to deliver something customers can’t get anywhere else — local news.

Bryant said problems with circulation can’t be fixed if he doesn’t know what they are, and he welcomes comments, concerns and even complaints from readers and subscribers.

In another addition to The Star’s staff, Ben Lockridge has joined the newsroom as a reporter.

Lockridge is no stranger to Meridian or to the news business. He comes to newspapering after a six-year stint at WTOK-TV. During his time there, he worked in the production and news departments.

“I’m just in love with the art of storytelling, whether narrative or factual, and I feel incredibly blessed to be working with The Meridian Star,” Lockridge said.

Editor Fredie Carmichael welcomed Lockridge to The Star on Monday.

“We’re happy to have someone with Ben’s talent, attitude and integrity join our news team,” Carmichael said.

“Ben’s local and he’s involved in this community — two things that will certainly help him serve our readers well. His versatility and experience in multimedia will also help us as we improve the content of our Web site.”