FARGO, N.D. – Aaron Becher is no stranger to running a newspaper.
Fresh out of college in 1996, the Faribault, Minn., native decided to quit a fulltime advertising job and start up his own weekly newspaper from scratch.
“It just gets in your blood from the very beginning,” Becher said of the news business.

With this experience and much more under his belt, Becher has been named as the new general manager of The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead.

Becher has been the newspaper’s advertising director since April 2009. He will assume his new role on Oct. 1.

“Aaron’s proven track record with our company has propelled him to his next challenge,” said Forum Publisher Bill Marcil Jr. “I look forward to having him help The Forum as we continue to face the challenges of the constantly changing media landscape.”

Becher said navigating the newspaper through this “changing landscape,” mediating between print and online news, is a challenge he will enjoy taking on as new general manager.

“Everything we do and think about is how do we marry the two and make sure that we’re giving due credit to both,” Becher said.

He said in his new role, he will work to foster a more collaborative atmosphere at the newspaper.

“Hopefully, what I can do is help connect some of that talent across departments so that everybody in The Forum really has a good feel of what each department is doing and what some of their key objectives are,” he said.

Becher earned a bachelor’s degree in public relations and communications from the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, in 1993. He was advertising director at the Duluth (Minn.) News Tribune, a Forum Communications Co. paper, from 2006 until 2009. Before joining the Duluth News Tribune, he was advertising director for Murphy McGinnis Media in Duluth.

Eric Burgess is a reporter for The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, a Forum Communications Co. newspaper.

The Forum and the Duluth News Tribune are both owned by Forum Communications Co., a multimedia information company based in Fargo. Forum Communications Co. owns dozens of newspapers, websites and television and radio stations in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin.