Brent Zell has been named assistant editor at the Bryan County News.

Zell, 44, began his new position Nov. 2. He had been an assistant editor at the Coastal Courier in Hinesville since January
2012 prior to coming to the News.

At the News, Zell will be the primary news and sports reporter, shoot photos and video, post social-media updates and post stories on bryancoun
tynews.com.

“I did layout and copy-editing for the News for a few years before coming to the News on a full-time basis, so I’m pretty well-versed in what is happening in this area,” he said. “Bryan County strikes me as a place where growth is really going strong, which is a great type of place to be for a journalist. I’m looking forward to getting to know this area better.”

Regional Publisher Mark Griffin welcomed Zell to the News.

“We’re fortunate to have Brent move over to our Bryan County News staff full time. He has a strong background in small-community journalism and will do a good job of covering the Bryan community for us,” Griffin said.

Managing Editor Jason Wermers seconded Griffin’s confidence in Zell.

“I have worked closely with Brent both at the Coastal Courier and the Bryan County News,” Wermers said. “He is an experienced journalist, and the community will benefit from the extensive skill set he brings to Bryan County.”

Zell, a South Dakota native, has been in journalism for most of the past 18 years after graduating from South Dakota State University. He started by working at several newspapers in South Dakota. His first stop was the sports department at the Brookings Register in 1997, and then he moved on to the Watertown Public Opinion in 2000 to be that publication’s variety-section editor. Zell began covering sports as a freelancer in 2004 in the Sioux Falls area before joining the sports staff of the Argus Leader, the state’s largest daily newspaper, in a part-time position.

From there, Zell worked as editor at a series of weekly newspapers — the Garretson Weekly, the Dell Rapids Tribune and the Baltic Beacon — from 2005-08. He returned to freelance writing from 2008-10. He and his wife, Rebecca, moved to Savannah in November 2011.
Zell replaces Paul Floeckher, who took a job in the Atlanta area.

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