Leesha Faulkner has been named as director of Digital Media for The Selma Times-Journal, selmatimesjournal.com and affiliated publications and websites.

Faulkner had previously served as editor of the newspaper for the past three years. Faulkner begins her new role with the newspaper after the Labor Day Holiday.

“Leesha has done a terrific job getting our company transitioned to more of a multimedia company that is able to expand audience channels in print and digitally,” said Times-Journal Publisher Dennis Palmer. “Since her arrival selmatimesjournal.com has established live blogs of public meetings, live streamed several local events and produced video programs that highlight local events. We have several new digital projects in the works that will add more local, multimedia content to our digital platforms, allowing us to further expand our reach.”

While she’ll be heavily focused on digital media, Faulkner will continue to cover the Selma City Council and make a significant contribution to what publishes in The Selma Times-Journal.

“Leesha has done a terrific job establishing the Times-Journal as an opinion leader in the community and her coverage of the council, the school board and other issue-based reporting has been excellent,” Palmer said. “We certainly want to make sure that we continue to provide residents with the type of reporting on issues that are important to readers.”

Faulkner said she is excited about her new role, and the chance to work with Tim Reeves, who has been named editor of the Times-Journal.

“I am grateful to the Selma Times-Journal and Boone Newspapers Inc. for putting the resources behind what is regarded as a new frontier in media. This is an exciting time in journalism as we begin merging the old-school, hard fact reporting with the sights, sounds and immediacy of web-based reporting,” Faulkner said.

Faulkner said she appreciates working with Reeves, a veteran journalist in his own right.

“Under Reeves’ leadership, this newsroom has the potential to reach deeper and further into telling the stories that are about and for Selma and the Black Belt,” she said. “I look forward to our working together to bring our readers the best of both worlds in print and online.”