Meet Tracy Leturgey, Butler Eagle’s interim managing editor
I’ve lost track of the times my friends and family members have questioned my decisions to go into the news business.
They’ve advocated that I apply for other roles, the comparatively less chaotic communications director or marketing roles. Perhaps something 9-5? Something that doesn’t come with statistics that seem to justify their concern?
Still, I find myself shaking off their persistent apprehension. I believe a desire for real information exists. At a time when content — true, false, AI-generated or otherwise — is more accessible than ever before, but harder to navigate, I think it’s important that news organizations like the Butler Eagle exist.
The team at the Butler Eagle is committed to telling true stories, sharing accurate information and asking tough questions that are in the best interest of our community. I’m proud to be its new interim managing editor.
I’ve held this role for just over a month now, working with a team of talented reporters, editors, photographers and others who find and tell the stories of the county where I grew up, and doing my best to lead them — even if only temporarily. While the length of my time in this role has yet to be determined, I'll remain with the Eagle at least as an associate managing editor.
As I fill this seat, I can’t promise we’ll always be first. I can’t promise even that we’ll never need to run a clarification. My goal is to be a transparent leader guiding a transparent newsroom. We should be up front about where we get our facts and showcase the various sides to the issues we cover.
I’ll be a leader who listens, and a leader who isn’t afraid to adjust to meet Butler County’s needs.
I’ve worked with the Eagle in various editing roles since 2021. I was the digital content editor, and later moved into the assignment editor role. During my time here, the Eagle has worked to get news online faster, increased our social media followings and launched a podcast.
I’ve also led efforts to produce — and sometimes fund — journalism projects around addiction, political polarization and the EMS crisis for our print and digital audiences.
Further, I’ve been a part of covering important breaking news, like the assassination attempt at the farm show grounds that targeted now President Donald Trump. I helped shape our ongoing coverage, pushing to find answers about the event, while also highlighting how our community was rallying around the Comperatore family.
Before joining the Eagle, I worked at a digital news startup called Richland Source in Mansfield, Ohio. There, I led audience engagement efforts, community events with collaboration from area nonprofits and businesses and reported on Richland and Ashland counties in Ohio.
It was there that I fell in love with community journalism. I saw the impact that our articles, videos and podcasts made on the communities we covered. The reporting we did made a difference. I can tell you, the reporting we do here makes a difference, too.
Parents of Knoch girls’ wrestlers, for instance, recently reached out when they learned their coach was fired. We gave the community its say on the matter — front page of the next day’s print edition and prominently on our website. The coach has since been rehired.
It’s stories like that one that keep me at this and allow me to shrug off the puzzled looks and concern from friends and family alike when I keep working in the news industry here in my hometown.
What we have here is important. Yes, there’s ample places to get information. Our phones and social media make it easy to share the latest information quickly.
But there’s still a need for a community news organization. Our staff digs into numbers when they don’t add up, asks tough questions, files for access to public documents and gathers more information when elected officials say they’re done talking.
Those things don’t happen consistently without a community news organization.
I care about Butler County. I grew up here. Seeing the Butler Eagle succeed matters to me.
I’m a Summit Township native. My favorite childhood memories include riding in a combine with my uncles, building rabbit cages and chicken coops with my dad and playing games with my sisters and cousins while my mom watched nearby. My least favorite include picking and snipping piles of beans to be canned from our garden. (I'm no stranger to hard work. My family knows it well.)
Now a resident of Jefferson Township, I’m proud to raise my children as Knoch Knights.
Believe me when I say, I have every reason to not be in this role, to run from the news industry.
But here I am. There’s something important about covering communities like ours.
I believe in the Butler Eagle. In our future. I’ll aim to protect it.
Tracy Leturgey is the interim managing editor of the Butler Eagle. She can be reached at tleturgey@butlereagle.com or 724-282-8000 Ext. 246.
