Another major exit: Stalwart veteran medical reporter Janet St. James leaving Gannett8 (updated Tues. afternoon)

By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
Dallas-based Gannett8 will be losing another standout news room fixture with the impending departure of medical reporter Janet St. James.

Several sources have confirmed that St. James will be leaving on March 17th to take a new position in the health field. She told unclebarky.com later Tuesday that she’ll be assistant vice president for strategic communications for HCA North Texas. St. James will work out of the company’s Irving corporate offices.

“Still telling important and relevant Texas health stories!” she said.

“I will miss them beyond words,” St. James said of her Gannett8 colleagues. “I’ve been a TV journalist nearly 25 years. I like adventure, so I’m excited about this one!”

Gannett8 news director Carolyn Mungo did not return an inquiry from unclebarky.com on St. James’ departure. But she said in a memo to station staffers that “her coverage of medical news in North Texas will sorely be missed.” Mungo did not specify where St. James would be going, terming it “her next adventure.”

St. James joined Gannett8 in July 1996 as a general assignments reporter and has been the station’s full-time medical correspondent since 2000. She could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.

St. James most recently excelled with her coverage late last year of the Ebola virus outbreak tied to Dallas-based Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. She is a University of Texas at Austin graduate who joined Gannett8 from KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City after earlier working for KTAB-TV in Abilene.

Sports reporter George Riba, who spent 35 years at Gannett8, retired last month and received a big on-air sendoff. Anchor-reporter Gloria Campos, a 30-year fixture at the station, retired in March of last year.

Other well-regarded reporters who have resigned from Gannett8 in recent years to take other communications positions include Brad Watson, Teresa Woodard, Chris Hawes, Steve Stoler, Craig Civale, Cynthia Vega and Casey Norton.

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