Coming soon: Two seasoned writers for The Denver Post will take over as the newspaper’s metro columnists.
William Porter and Susan Greene will begin writing for Denver & The West starting the week of Dec. 16. They replace Diane Carman, who resigned last month, and David Harsanyi, who has written a metro column for the past four years and will move to the Post’s op-ed pages.
“I am excited about what Bill and Susan will bring to their new responsibilities,” Post editor Greg Moore said.
Porter came to The Post in 1997 and has written and edited in the features and arts departments. His stories have run the gamut of personalities and places that make Colorado distinct, and while an editor, he was drafted to write a widely heralded retrospective on New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Moore said.
“One thing I’ve learned during 28 years in newspapering is that good storytelling is everything,” said Porter. “I plan to write slice-of-life columns about Denver and the state. No screeds. No term papers. Stories.”
Greene has been at The Post since 1998. In that time, she has covered city hall under Wellington Webb, the 2002 U.S. Senate race and written political profiles that have been controversial, sharp and definitive.
“I see column writing as a way to report with a closer, more personal lens,” Greene said. “I’ll be looking for stories that haven’t found their way onto these pages, and hopefully trigger conversations readers wouldn’t otherwise have about the news.”
In July, she and Miles Moffeit produced an award-winning series on the destruction of DNA evidence in Colorado and around the country that has resulted in the freeing of one man and potentially another, Moore said. The series has influenced efforts here to preserve DNA evidence, and Greene considers it some of her best work.
“I believe they both will bring attention and acclaim to the space we are asking them to fill, much as their predecessors did,” Moore said.
Harsanyi, who joined The Post’s staff in May 2004, in part to provide some ideological balance to Diane Carman and then-columnist Jim Spencer, has done his job well, Moore said. Often offering a libertarian “live and let live” take on the policies and practices emanating from city hall and the statehouse, he also has roamed the city for interesting tales of regular folks rubbing up against unforgiving bureaucracies or just plain silliness, Moore said.
His new book “Nanny State,” is a critique of efforts by local, state and federal governments to regulate numerous aspects of our lives.
Porter began his journalism career in 1980 at a small newspaper in Burlington, N.C. Over a three-year period, he covered city hall, cops and courts and wrote about farmers, mill hands, crooked deputies and country preachers.
In 1983, he joined The Phoenix Gazette, and in 1995, he went to The Arizona Republic, where he more sharply honed his skills for identifying and telling great stories. Since July, he has been a member of the Post’s newly formed Anchor Team, producing centerpieces for Page One of the paper.
Porter is an alumnus of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the University of North Carolina-Asheville.
Before joining The Post, Greene covered politics and water and environmental issues for The Las Vegas Review-Journal.
She is a graduate of the University of Michigan and has a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University.
Manny Gonzales: 303-954-1537 or mgonzales@denverpost.com
