Deb Palmieri
Editor
The fact that Deb Palmieri carries her press pass around in a hunting license tag holder is no coincidence, as the Parkland Press and Northwestern Press editor is always on the lookout for news, beating the bushes for stories and ready to shoot a photo wherever she goes.
Her life as a weekly newspaper editor doesn’t begin and end with a shift at the office, but goes on 24-7. News could come from just about anywhere – a phone call while she’s making dinner or a knock on the door on a Saturday afternoon. One “story” even crashed through and overturned in the front room of her home.
A graduate of Muhlenberg College, her journalism career began in 1995 as a freelance writer.
She has been employed for more than 20 years with the Lehigh Valley Press, where she began as a reporter/photographer. Since taking over the helm of the two weekly newspapers as editor, she wears many hats. Assigning, news and feature writing, copy editing, layout design, headline writing, photography, fact-checking, and hiring and coaching college interns – all are part of her weekly editor’s job.
A Keystone, Society of Profession Journalists, Pennsylvania Press Club and National Federation of Press Women awards winner, Deb is a self-described luddite, who believes the feel of holding a community newspaper, “hot off the presses,” in one’s hand will continue well into the future.
A resident of Kempton, bears have waddled down Deb’s driveway, and opossums often sit in the crook of the tree outside her window watching her pound out stories at her keyboard.