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Jean F. Moon

General Manager, Patuxent Publishing

Inducted into MDDC’s Hall of Fame in 2010. This article is based on information submitted at the time.

As the longtime general manager of Patuxent Publishing Co. (PPC), Jean played a major role in the advancement of community journalism in Maryland, in general, and in the Baltimore metropolitan area, in particular.

Jean F. Moon
Jean F. Moon

At a time when community newspapers were not plentiful or as popular as they are today,Jean Moon helped set a standard of editorial, photographic and design excellence that has continued at Patuxent Publishing and is often imitated because of PPC’s leadership in the field.

Jean Moon takes pride in having started her career in journalism as her high school’s correspondent for the Oklahoma City Times. But it was in 1971, after moving to Maryland, that Jean began her professional journalism career by joining the fledgling Columbia Flier newspaper, working with Zeke Orlinsky, the founder of Patuxent Publishing Co., first as a writer and then as a contributing editor.

In 1973, Jean assumed the role of general manager and editor of the Flier. And as Columbia developer Jim Rouse’s dream of the planned community grew, so did the Flier and Patuxent Publishing.

With a focus on quality storytelling and community service at the forefront, Jean, along with Zeke, quickly converted the Flier from a shopper into an award-winning free community newspaper. Jean’s commitment to nurturing an environment of editorial quality led to compelling stories, jaw­ dropping photography and cutting-edge design.

As Patuxent grew by adding other newspapers in Baltimore and Howard counties into its fold, Jean applied that same commitment to serving those papers’ communities. She continually sought to find new opportunities in the field for young people, especially women.

“I think that the Flier attracted in its early days very smart talented people who liked working together and liked the practice of community journalism, which is different from daily journalism,” Jean said recently.

Jean gave her newsrooms the independence to cover stories that not only readers wanted to know about, but also stories that they needed to know about. Reporters were not to feel encumbered by the financial side of the business, she stressed.

She herself, on the other hand, didn’t have that luxury. As general manager, Jean helped to turn Patuxent into a very successful and profitable company. She made a lot of that happen by making sure that Patuxent never forgot its place as a good corporate citizen.

In particular, Jean encouraged strong ties between Pauxent’s newspapers and institutions in the communities they served, particularly the arts, education and community sports.

For example, she was a key supporter of various nonprofits, such as the Columbia Festival of the Arts and the Howard County Poetry and Lterary Society, as well as local soccer and tennis groups in Columbia.

“The idea,” Jean said recently, “was that you wanted the community newspaper to reflect not only the drama and trauma of people’s lives but also the high points and milestones.”

As a board member of the Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association from 1981 to 1992, which included a year as its president, Jean worked to expand the role and reputation of free newspapers, whose opportunities for success were often limited by restrictive rules and by a bias that said serious journalism could be delivered only by organizations that required readers to pay for news and information. During her tenure at Patuxent, those rules were abandoned and that bias was proven unwarranted.

“Recognizing the achievements  and accomplishments of  members of the community was a hallmark of the paper, whether it was kids who won athletic awards or academic honors or it was promotions in business,” she said.

Though Jean left Patuxent in 1995, her impact on the company can still be felt today. Though now owned by the Baltimore Sun Media Group and Tribune Co., Jean’s approach to employees and to the communities the newspapers serve remains.