Visiting editors assume roles on Modesto Bee’s editorial board
Meet Puja Mehta and Keir Wilkinson, The Modesto Bee’s new visiting editors.
For the next several months, they will play an important role as volunteer members of our editorial board, deliberating with Bee editors to form the newspaper’s editorial opinions. They also will help determine Bee political endorsements early next year as we head toward the all-important March Primary.
Mehta, 34, was born and raised in Modesto, left for schooling and employment, including work in the legal community and for the National Alliance on Mental Illness. She returned three years ago and now is special projects manager at the Stanislaus Community Foundation.
“I’m amazed at how much Modesto has changed and am eager to better understand the city as it is today,” she said.
Wilkinson, 38, grew up in Placerville where he helped establish two family restaurants. His jobs with YouTube, the U.S. Air Force and legal clerking took him to various states and overseas before he came to Modesto, where he is an international regulatory and compliance analyst for E&J Gallo.
“I’m all in on Modesto and see so much potential in its people,” he said.
Both have law degrees, although that’s not required to become a Bee visiting editor. The current recruiting effort drew many thoughtful and qualified applicants of all stripes, and narrowing the list down to Mehta and Wilkinson was anything but easy.
They join Opinions Editor Garth Stapley, Bee Editor Brian Clark and Maria Figueroa, the newspaper’s research and information specialist, on the editorial board. We lean on visiting editors’ real-world experience and perceptions to inform and develop The Bee’s editorial opinions.
Those stances include endorsements for the March Primary, occurring three months earlier than usual. Mehta and Wilkinson will help sort through candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives, California Senate and Assembly and the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors. Some Stanislaus Superior Court judge candidates might receive our nod as well, if viable races develop.
The Bee’s visiting editor program began a couple of decades ago and is something of an anomaly in the news world, allowing regular people a unique, part-time experience with professional journalism while giving The Bee the benefit of fresh eyes and diverse, outsider perspective. The Los Angeles Times’ Essential California newsletter featured Modesto’s visiting editor program when the just-concluded search for Mehta and Wilkinson launched in late June.
Rotating out is Melissa Van Diepen, a former Bee librarian who now is executive director of Community Hospice Foundation. She has been serving as visiting editor the past few months. We will miss her insights, intelligence and enthusiasm.
If you can see yourself as a visiting editor, make a mental note to be on the lookout for the next recruitment round in the first quarter next year. Those chosen at that time will help select endorsements for the fall 2020 Presidential Election.
Local races on that ballot include seats on city councils in Modesto, Turlock and some other cities; various school and irrigation district boards; and those requiring runoffs among top two candidates from the March Primary.
