Baltimore Sun Media has appointed a former USA Today editor to oversee The Baltimore Sun’s editorial and opinion pages, the company announced Monday.
Candy Woodall, a 20-year journalism veteran, began as The Sun’s editorial editor on Monday.
Woodall replaces Tricia Bishop, who has been The Sun’s director of opinion and features since 2019. Bishop will succeed Sam Davis, who is retiring from The Sun at the end of June after a 44-year career as a journalist. Woodall will oversee The Sun’s editorial and op-ed pages and eventually the opinion pages of The Capital Gazette and The Carroll County Times. A deputy opinion editor to work alongside her is expected to be announced in the near future.
Woodall is an award-winning reporter and editor who has covered Congress, business, education and technology, and most recently served as Congressional and Elections Editor for USA Today, where he expanded the publication’s readership and oversaw a political coverage team of 10 reporters.
“Our opinion section has long been a leading outlet for commentary from the Baltimore region,” said The Sun’s publisher and editor-in-chief Trif Alatzas. “We remain committed to providing a forum for thoughtful discussion and are pleased to welcome Candy, a seasoned journalistic veteran, to our staff.”
Woodall will initially report to Bishop.
Under Woodall’s leadership, “Baltimore Sun Media’s opinion section, which will operate independently from the newsroom, will provide thoughtful and thorough exploration of the key issues of our time through rigorously researched staff and community commentary that reflects the diverse experiences, perceptions and voices of the region,” Bishop said.
The management changes, triggered by Mr. Davis’s retirement, come five months after The Sun was purchased in a private transaction by David D. Smith, chairman of the board of directors of Sinclair Corp., the Hunt Valley-based owner of the station, and co-owner Armstrong Williams, a conservative talk-show host and national newspaper columnist.
Williams said he was excited to welcome Woodall on board as The Sun’s new editorial editor.
“Her keen insight, vast editorial experience and commitment to The Sun will undoubtedly take our opinion column to new heights,” he said.
Woodall previously worked as a reporter for the Gannett Network, where he launched the Pennsylvania State Capital Bureau, and prior to that worked for Pennsylvania daily newspapers including the York Dispatch, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the York Daily Record.
Woodall was part of the York Daily Record team that won an award from the Pennsylvania Newsmedia Association in 2019 for its reporting on sexual abuse by priests in Pennsylvania. The reporting revealed how the Catholic Church has supported and continued to cover up priests who sexually abused children.
