Nine-year-old nonprofit news site the Rivard Report has changed its name as its founder — former San Antonio Express-News editor-in-chief Bob Rivard — prepares to scale back his management role.
In a statement released Monday, the site announced its rebranding as the San Antonio Report, saying the new name reflects its evolution "into a thriving online news enterprise with a team of talented journalists and nonprofit partners."
The Rivard-less moniker also lays groundwork for the organization to search for new a publisher/CEO as part of a "long-planned succession process," according to its statement. Rivard, who co-founded the site with wife Monika Maeckle, currently serves as both editor and publisher.
After the San Antonio Report lands a new publisher, it will launch an editor search, likely next year. With that position secure, Rivard will remain as a board member, according to the statement. He'll also continue to moderate public events and write a weekly column.
The name change comes after an earlier rebranding effort failed to take hold.
In September 2017, the Rivard Report announced plans to pick a new name reflective of its growth from a personal blog into a community news site. However, the organization reversed course nearly a year later, saying a branding consultant advised that its existing name and brand equity weren't "worth sacrificing for a more institutional name."
The initial statement emailed Monday announcing the name change erroneously called the Rivard Report San Antonio's "first online-only news source." Several, including NOWCastSA, predate it.
A later version of the release corrected the error.
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