Alternative newspaper gets new editor

After several months without a news editor, the Bloomington Independent has appointed graduate student Liz Robertson to fill that void. \nIn her new role, Robertson has been given the responsibility to revamp the paper's news section.\nThe Independent's managing editor, Cynthia Wolfe, said Robertson is trying to redesign the section with news briefs and longer pieces to meet the paper's editorial mission -- to present the news from "a different perspective and in a more in-depth and complex way."\nWolfe said she had anticipated letting Robertson spend some time meeting community leaders and getting acquainted with local government in Monroe County, but events played out otherwise. \nWhen the Brown's Woods development on Bloomington's west side was given final approval and tree-sitters were forced out of their perches by local sheriff's deputies and state police, Robertson jumped in.\n"We had intended for her to have a smooth transition, but that didn't happen," Wolfe said. "In the middle of working on another project and trying to introduce herself to the community -- she got her trial by fire."\nNow that things have calmed down some, Robertson is back at her original task of reworking the news section. \nRobertson graduated with a bachelor's of the arts in communications, with a concentration in journalism, from Westminster College of Salt Lake City. She recently received a master's degree from IU. While in Utah she worked for the Salt Lake City Tribune, first as a newsroom assistant, then as a business reporter. \nRobertson is a now doctoral student in linguistics, for which she was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study in Helsinki, Finland.\nThe Independent is Robertson's first stint with an alternative newspaper, but she said when she wrote for the Tribune that she "always looked for an angle to shock the sensibilities of the conservative readers in Salt Lake City."\n"This is so exciting," Robertson said. "I've always been interested in the alternative press." \nAs news editor, Robertson feels she has the chance to get to know Bloomington better. \n"It's a reason for me to really invest in the community and get to know it in a more intimate fashion," she said.\nRobertson has big shoes to fill. She replaces the widely popular and lauded Lisa Sorg, who left early this year to edit The San Antonio Current-Focus. But Wolfe is full of compliments about Robertson after just one month on the job.\n"Liz's great strength is her ability to listen," Wolfe said. "It really brings people out." \nOthers at the newspaper echo Wolfe.\nLiz brings a new sense of energy to the paper," associate editor Eric Weddle said. "She can look at local issues with a different eye.\n"The way we interact is good," he said. "We're really excited to have her working with us."\nWolfe says the Independent intends to focus considerable attention in the near future on local planning and growth issues. \n"It's a complex story," Wolfe said of planning and growth in Monroe County. "It's difficult to make into an interesting story, so we have to find specific ways to break it down and write about it, rather than just report what someone did at a Plan Commission meeting"