Staff reports

Senior reporter Adrian Hedden was promoted to managing editor of the Carlsbad Current-Argus and Artesia Daily Press.

Hedden, who worked as a reporter at the Current-Argus since December 2016 will oversee news and sports content for the two Eddy County newspapers owned by El Rito Media. El Rito bought the Current-Argus from Gannett in June 2024 and acquired the Daily Press in 2023.

Publisher Dave Shabaz said Hedden was the right person for the job due to his years of experience and knowledge of the Carlsbad community, noting Hedden’s involvement with the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors group, which hosts events to celebrate local business throughout the community.

“This promotion for Adrian is a long time coming. No one knows this community as well as he does and his years of being a Chamber of Commerce Ambassador, keeps him truly connected with the people and the happenings in our community,” Shabaz said.

Hedden moved to Carlsbad to take the reporting job in 2016 after serving in the national Pulliam Fellowship program hosted by Gannett, which stationed him at the Arizona Republic in Phoenix for six months.

In Phoenix, Hedden covered breaking news and crime, along with community news in suburbs around the West Valley around Phoenix such as Peoria, Avondale and Goodyear.

Before that, he wrote for the Bristol Herald Courier in Bristol, Tennessee and Virginia, and newspapers in his home state Michigan – The Morning Sun in Mt. Pleasant and Flint Journal in Flint, Michigan.

Hedden holds a bachelor’s degree in online journalism from Central Michigan University and an associate’s degree in journalism from Washtenaw Community College, in his hometown Ann Arbor, Michigan. He worked as an editor of the student newspapers at both schools, Central Michigan Life and the Washtenaw Voice, respectively. He is studying for a master’s degree in communication at Eastern New Mexico University.

Since moving to New Mexico, Hedden covered several topics important to Carlsbad and Eddy County, including the oil and gas industry, nuclear issues centered around the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, local government, business and crime.

He said as managing editor, he will ensure the paper maintains its refocused effort on local news established by El Rito when it acquired the paper. Community journalism, Hedden said, means holding local officials accountable, informing the public and creating content that can celebrate and uplift the community.

“Carlsbad is a very unique place I fell in love with after moving here eight years ago,” Hedden said. “Our work will continue to reflect the explanatory and human-interest stories readers have come to expect from the Current-Argus. I’m excited to take on the responsibility.”

Hedden lives in Carlsbad with his wife Cassie Marrs who he married in 2022.

Reach Adrian Hedden at achedden@currentargus.com.