What does a managing editor actually do? In the case of Maggie Cassidy, the answer is clear: everything.
Since joining VTDigger in April 2021, Cassidy has become one of the most essential members of the nonprofit news organization. According to her job description, she’s in charge of running the newsroom on a day-to-day basis — overseeing a team of editors, directing the news report and ensuring that VTDigger’s stories meet its standards and serve its readers.
But over the years, Cassidy’s role has grown far more expansive. As VTDigger has evolved from a swashbuckling startup into an established statewide news source, she has built the systems and processes necessary to professionalize the operation. When the organization has taken on major projects — such as redesigning the website and migrating to a new content management system — she’s coordinated with colleagues inside and outside the newsroom to get the job done. And when challenges have emerged, she has addressed them in her calm, understated and reassuring manner.
When it became clear last year that her impact on the organization far exceeded her title as managing editor, Cassidy acquired an addendum: “and director of operations.”
But now, she’s surrendering both titles — and, effective Friday afternoon, taking leave of VTDigger.
After a dozen years in Vermont daily news, she’s stepping back from the fray to join the film production company Humble Light. In that role, she’ll serve as a producer of a forthcoming documentary film about Paul Lawrence, an undercover narcotics detective who served time after making more than 100 fraudulent arrests in Vermont in the 1970s, many in St. Albans.
“My first love has always been reporting, and I’ve always been intrigued by the idea of documentary film,” Cassidy said. “This has just felt like the perfect project to try to combine both of those things in a way that I can do something I really enjoy and talk to people out in the world again.”
She added, “A big part of why I joined VTDigger was to try learning something new. I did that in spades. I’ve just learned an incredible amount. I realized how much I value learning new things, so I hope this is another chapter of that.”
It’s no surprise that Cassidy wound up running Vermont’s largest newsroom. She quite literally grew up at the Framingham, Massachusetts, newspaper now known as The MetroWest Daily News, where her father was a longtime editor. (She has been known to quote the occasional Gene Cassidy pearl of wisdom, such as, “If you have a good story, put it in the paper twice.” To translate: Write follow-up stories.)
After interning for the Boston Globe, Boston Herald and Molokai Dispatch in Hawaii, Cassidy landed at the Valley News in West Lebanon, New Hampshire. There, she worked as a reporter, became the newspaper’s first web editor and was tapped as top editor in 2018 — becoming the first woman and, at age 30, the youngest person to lead the newspaper. A few years later, she joined VTDigger as deputy managing editor.
At a celebration of Cassidy’s time at VTDigger, colleagues praised her collaborative and compassionate style of editing, her thoughtful and ethical approach to journalism, and her mentorship of reporters and editors alike.
Sky Barsch, CEO of VTDigger, praised Cassidy’s contributions to the organization.
“I’ve learned so much from Maggie over the past year working together,” Barsch said. “She’s someone who is constantly thinking about improvement, both in how we fulfill our journalistic mission and how we build a culture that is employee-centered and inclusive. We’ll be benefiting from her work — and referencing her thoughtful documentation — for years to come.”
Cassidy said she’ll miss VTDigger and is looking forward to watching it continue to evolve.
“As a newsroom, we have made so much progress in this very short chapter,” she said. “And I am so confident that there’s more to come — and that the newsroom and VTDigger are really well-positioned to keep building on our success.”
An earlier version of this story incompletely described where Paul Lawrence made his arrests in the 1970s.
