Dru Sefton, senior editor at Current for nearly 11 years, has accepted a position as office manager for the Washington, D.C., and New York City bureaus of Mother Jones.
Sefton will oversee behind-the-scenes operations from stocking supplies to enhancing security protocols for the East Coast bureaus of the national investigative news magazine.
“I’ve been either writing or editing professionally since 1982, and I felt it was time to step away from daily news work,” Sefton said. “This position at Mother Jones allows me to continue to support impactful journalism in a different way.”
Sefton joined Current in November 2008. Her beat has focused on federal funding, including CPB and America’s Public Television Stations, as well as PBS and public television stations. She also writes the popular “Comings and goings” people news column. Her last day at Current is Friday.
“Dru’s skills and experience as a daily newspaper reporter have been key to Current’s transformation into a digital-first news service for public media,” said Managing Editor Karen Everhart. “She brought curiosity, persistence and a fun sense of humor to her reporting, and tackled complex stories on our agenda with amazing speed and accuracy.”
During her tenure, Sefton broke several exclusive stories for Current. She revealed that a businessman who acquired Nightly Business Report had previously been involved in more than 20 lawsuits. And she uncovered a young man misrepresenting himself as Mister Rogers’ successor, despite PBS’ orders for him to cease and desist.
More recently, Sefton covered PBS’ push into OTT streaming platforms and the FCC’s broadcast spectrum auction. She also dissected complex disputes at stations including OETA and AETN.
“Covering the public broadcasting system at this point in history has been fascinating and challenging,” Sefton said. “I remain confident that public media will continue to innovate and grow. And I’ll be cheering on that work from the sidelines.”
“Dru’s departure is a loss for Current and for public media, since she has been committed to making sure people in the system stay informed about developments that affect their work,” said Executive Director Julie Drizin. “We will miss her work ethic, her energy and her amazing cookies!”
Earlier in her career, Sefton was a national correspondent for the Washington bureau of the 26-newspaper Newhouse News Service. She also worked at USA Today and the Kansas City Star as well as several daily newspapers in her home state of Illinois.