Ted O’Neil has been named assistant editor at the Bryan County News.

O’Neil, 49, began his new position March 28 as the news and sports reporter for the paper.

“We moved here last October due to my wife’s job, and what better way to get to know Bryan County than to cover what goes on,” he said.
Jason Wermers, the News’ managing editor, said he was lucky to connect so quickly with O’Neil after Brent Zell, the previous assistant editor, gave notice that he was leaving.

“We miss Brent, but I am excited about Ted and the experience he brings to the Bryan County News,” Wermers said. “Ted has hit the ground running and is eager to learn more about the community and report the news that makes Bryan County the special place it is.”

O’Neil, a Michigan State University alumnus, started as a reporter at the Midland Daily News in Michigan in 1989, and then moved into copy editing and page layout before leaving the paper in 1998.

He also has worked as a political aide, was a county commissioner in Michigan for one term and most recently spent 10 years in media relations at the Mackinac Center, a free-market public policy think tank in Michigan.

“Even though I’ve been away from newspapers for a while, the basics of the job are still the same: talking to sources and asking the kinds of questions your readers want the answers to,” he said.

Sue Nelson, the News’ community relations director, said she is excited about O’Neil’s arrival.

“I am thrilled to have Ted O’Neil on board as the assistant editor for the Bryan County News,” she said. “Ted has a solid background in communications and media relations, and we look forward to working with him as we continue to expand our news delivery in print and online.”

O’Neil and his wife, Ginny, live in Richmond Hill. Their daughter, Erin, plays volleyball at Lourdes University in Sylvania, Ohio, and their son, Thomas, is a sophomore at Richmond Hill High School.

The Bryan County News is owned by Savannah-based Morris Newspaper Corp., a privately owned media company with properties in nine states and the Caribbean.