Jason TaylorJason P. Taylor, president and publisher of the Chattanooga Times Free Press, has been elected president of the Tennessee Press Association, the statewide industry group composed of 26 daily newspapers and 96 non-daily newspapers.
Taylor, who succeeded Elizabeth Star Publisher Lynn J. Richardson as TPA president during the group's summer convention in Gatlinburg over the weekend, has headed the Chattanooga Publishing Co., for the past seven years.
He began his newspaper career at the Daily News Journal in Murfreesboro, Tenn., where he served in various roles including advertising sales manager and director of marketing and advertising. Taylor later worked as general manager for the Times in Gainesville, Ga., and as advertising director and senior vice president of sales and marketing at the Honolulu Advertiser, the largest newspaper in Hawaii.
Since Taylor joined the Times Free Press in 2007, the Chattanooga paper has been recognized as a top-ranked newspaper both regionally and nationally in news, advertising, marketing, circulation and online performance.
So far this year, the Times Free Press has topped Editor and Publisher magazine's "10 Newspapers That Do It Right" as well receiving recognition as a 2014 fianlist for the Pulitzer Prize. At the end of 2013, the paper hosted both the International Society of Environmental Journalists and the industry's first-ever Event Revenue Summit in Chattanooga, playing host to some of the largest newspapers in the world.
Other officers elected for the Tennessee Press Association for the next year include Joel Washburn, managing editor of The McKenzie Banner, vice president for non-daily newspapers; Jack McElroy, editor of the Knoxville News Sentinel, vice president for daily newspapers and John Finney, vice president of the Buffalo River Review, Linden, treasurer.
Chris Vass, metro editor of the Chattanooga Times Free Press, continues to serve on TPA's 10-member board of directors.