• by Tony Silber , March 1, 2022

Axios, the six-year-old online media company that specializes in politics and policy news delivered in a terse, bulletized style, said Monday that it hired the veteran journalist Jamie Stockwell as executive editor of Axios Local, its local-news initiative.

The announcement came with several other personnel moves, and helps set the company up to execute on its ambitious local-journalism plan.

Axios Local is centered around daily newsletters in each market it serves. It launched at the end of 2020 with the acquisition of The Charlotte Agenda. Last year it started with 14 markets, and it expects to expand to 25 cities total this year.

“Local reporting has been obliterated by technology, private equity cash and new consumer habits,” Axios says on its local-news web page. “Too many falsely assume local reporting can't be revitalized profitably. This can be done if:

• You meet readers’ needs.
• Put your investment into people, not paper and property.
• Create a new, healthy daily habit.
• Scale up as revenue rises.
• Spread to smaller cities and towns once the formula is perfected.”

Stockwell is a veteran of the New York Times, the Washington Post and the San Antonio Express-News. “She will play an integral role in our mission to bring smart, modern local news to communities across our country,” said Axios publisher Nicholas Johnston.

Axios Local has nearly 400,000 subscribers across the 14 cities where it’s currently operating.

Along with Stockwell, Axios announced the hiring of two other editors. Michael Graff has been named Southern bureau chief overseeing Charlotte, Atlanta, Nashville and Raleigh. In February, Kristen Hinman joined  as Axios Local's Mid-Atlantic bureau chief, overseeing Washington D.C., Richmond and Baltimore.