For the third time in the nearly 74 year history of the Clinton County News, a new Editor has been named.
Brett Gibson has assumed the title of Editor of the Clinton County News, effective with this July 27, 2023 issue.
Brett Gibson has taken over the roll from his father, Alan “Al” Bertram Gibson, who was named as the Editor by his father, A.B. Gibson, in 1978.
A. B Gibson and his wife, Nell Bertram Gibson, founded the Clinton County News in 1949, and both continued on in the role of Publishers of the newspaper until their deaths in 1994 and 2006, respectively.
At that point, Al Gibson continued in the roll of Editor, as well as becoming Co-Publisher of the NEWS with his wife, Janie U. Gibson. Al and Janie will continue as Co-Publishers.
“After 45 years, it is time to pass the baton in the title of Editor,” Al Gibson said.“Brett has worked along side us for the past 20 years and has earned the privilege of making the day to day decisions of how the Clinton County News will continue to be the voice for the people of Albany and Clinton County, as well as the watchdog over the government agencies it covers for our readers.”
Brett graduated from Clinton County High School in 2000 and was president of his class and an avid athlete for the Bulldogs in three sports, basketball, golf, and his true love, baseball.
He is married to Kim Gibson, and the couple live in the city limits of Albany, where they are raising their “girl crew” of four daughters, Gracie, 13, Lily, 11, Peyton, 10 and Kelly Jane, 3.
Their oldest daughter, Kensey, tragically passed away in 2022 due to complications from the COVID-19 virus.
Away from his newspaper duties, Brett continues to stay close to his love of sports on the diamond, currently volunteering as an assistant coach for the Clinton County Middle School girls’ softball team as well as serving as an assistant coach for the Clinton County High School Lady Bat Dawgs softball team under head coach Todd Messer.
He began his newspaper career with the Clinton County News in 2004, after returning to Albany following his graduation from Eastern Kentucky University where he earned an B.S. degree in Journalism with a minor in Print Management.
During his time at EKU, Brett Gibson worked on the staff of the student newspaper there, the Eastern Progress, serving in several roles including reporter, photographer, assistant sports editor, sports editor and advertising designer.
During his tenure with the EKU Progress, the student publication earned the prestigious honor of the Pacemaker Award, one of the highest accolades a college publication can win.
“With Brett assuming this new leadership role as Editor of the Clinton County News, the community will be seeing his presence more as a commerce leader,” Al Gibson said. “His youth and experience will certainly be an asset to Albany and Clinton County going forward.”
Although Al and Janie will continue to be present in the day to day operations of the Clinton County News, Brett will be stepping into the role as Editor with the challenge of becoming the leader of the newspaper and the business, continuing the goal of being the most trusted source of “true news” for all that concerns the citizens of Albany and Clinton County.
“I could not be more excited for this leadership change, with the many possibilities for growth that Brett will bring to your hometown newspaper.  After all, it is our readers and advertisers who have been the heart of what we do here,” Janie Gibson said. “I feel sure the community will trust and support Brett in his vision for the Clinton County News.”
Brett is blessed to have at his side one of the best newsroom staffs possible, with Gary Guffey, who has been with the Clinton County News as it’s Chief Reporter since 1981, and Erika Roe, who for the past five years has been on staff as the head compositor and advertising designer.
Publisher Al Gibson noted that the Clinton County News has evolved as the times have changed, and will continue to do so as the industry moves forward.
“With the advent of internet media coming to the forefront in recent years, it’s certainly been a challenge for our industry to continue to produce a product that our readers can trust and lean on, but in the end, we feel that our reporting and analyzing of current events is the most reliable source for all that is our Community,” Al Gibson said.
Earlier this month, Brett, and Al, were involved in a day-long summit hosted by the University of Kentucky School of Journalism geared toward addressing challenges facing the newspaper industry in these current times, the “National Summit on Rural Journalism.
“Finding new ways for our younger generation to read the NEWS will be a challenging obstacle, but we are willing to do what we need to in order to reach our maximum readership,” Brett Gibson said. “During the past 23 years, I’ve seen some drastic changes to the newspaper industry, going from analog and paste-up sheets to completely digital, and now we will start putting a lot more attention on the online media. It’s going to be a challenge, but I feel confident we can still bring our readers the best and most reliable source of news for Clinton County.”
With this change in leadership, the Clinton County News hopes to continue to serve our readers and advertisers with the motto in mind that was coined by our founder, A.B.Gibson, in 1949, as being the “Only newspaper in the world devoted to the best interest of Clinton County, Kentucky.”