Former Alaska Beacon reporter Claire Stremple is named new editor - Alaska First Media

September 4, 2025

By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon

Claire Stremple, seen here on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025, in Juneau, has been named the new editor of the Alaska Beacon. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

Claire Stremple, a former Alaska Beacon reporter and the current managing editor of public radio station KTOO-FM in Juneau, has been named the Beacon’s new editor.

Stremple, who will start Oct. 20, will replace the Beacon’s founding editor, Andrew Kitchenman. He resigned last month in order to take an editor role at the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The Beacon is an affiliate of the national nonprofit States Newsroom, which conducted the hiring process.

“We are thrilled to welcome Claire back to the Beacon as editor and look forward to more great reporting from our talented team under her leadership,” said Chris Fitzsimon, publisher and CEO of States Newsroom, in a written statement.

Stremple worked at the Beacon from spring 2023 through fall 2024 after prior work as a reporter for KTOO and KHNS-FM public radio in Haines.

While at KTOO, she won the Alaska Press Club’s 2022 Public Service Award for reporting that exposed a large backlog at Alaska’s Division of Public Assistance. After leaving the Beacon in 2024, she returned to KTOO as its editor.

Fitzsimon said he selected Stremple from among many applicants based on her leadership at KTOO, her prior experience at the Beacon, and her commitment to Alaska journalism.

By phone, Stremple said she wants to return to the Beacon because she enjoyed working with its reporters, “and I think that the capitol is a really exciting place to be doing state politics news reporting. I think there’s a lot of opportunity for investigative work there, and that prospect is really exciting to me. So it’s really exciting to be back with the team and be back in the capitol.”

She added, “I do want to continue Andrew Kitchenman’s work, because I think his work and vision have been pretty exemplary and impactful in the state and for other media networks.”

Alaska Beacon reporting is donation funded and can be reprinted for free by newspapers, radio stations, TV stations and news websites.

Stremple intends to work from Juneau, her current location, but said she could change locations if needs warrant.

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