Two journalists who have devoted their professional lives to covering news in Snohomish County are now leading The Daily Herald’s local reporting staff.
Eric Stevick, a member of The Herald’s staff for 28 years and the assistant local editor since 2016, has been promoted to local editor. Reporter Rikki King, who joined the newspaper in 2010, assumes the duties of assistant local editor.
Stevick, 59, has won widespread professional recognition for his news reporting and feature writing, covering areas ranging from Everett, Mukilteo, local tribes and north Snohomish County to education, crime and breaking news.
He grew up in Bellevue, graduated from Washington State University, and worked at newspapers in southwest Washington for eight years before moving to The Herald.
Rikki King
King, 29, grew up in Vaca-ville, California, and Kennewick in Eastern Washington. She has a political science degree from Washington State University. She was an intern with The Herald’s editorial department while in college, and became a part of the reporting staff after graduation. She has covered breaking news and public safety, and now reports on the city of Everett.
“Leaders like Eric and Rikki greatly deepen the newspaper’s value to our readers, and I’m proud of that,” Herald Publisher Josh O’Connor said. “Snohomish County can know The Herald is being edited by people who have shown deep commitments to their community.”
Stevick replaces Scott North, who left The Herald after three decades to take a job with Snohomish County.
Both Stevick and King will follow the recent practice among many Herald editors of continuing to write for the newspaper and website — building on the newspaper’s strategy of providing a rich and reliable report online and in print.
“Readers trust us to be watchdogs of people in power, to tell the world what’s going on here and why it matters, and to bring them positive stories about their neighbors and loved ones,” King said. “I believe we can expand our digital offerings while keeping true to these values.”
Stevick also reflected on the challenge of working in an industry determined to preserve vital journalism amid the digital evolution brought on by smartphones and the internet.
“The Herald has been there with generations of readers. We’ve made mention when ordinary people were born, got married and when they died. We’ve pointed out when government was not doing its job, exposed people in power who overstepped their boundaries, and spoken up for the voiceless,” he said.
“In a changing marketplace, we want to be the trusted narrator. The medium is changing, but it’s the journalism that still matters.”
Stevick said he and his wife moved to Snohomish County because they thought it would be a good place to raise children. “It proved to be just that,” he said. “We’ve made our home in Marysville for the past 27 years.”
King, who has lived in Arlington and at Silver Lake, resides in Seattle with her husband, who works in technology.
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