Menifee 24/7 Announces New Hires as Part of Expansion

Menifee 24/7 today announced the hiring of several new staff members as part of a staff expansion designed to better serve our readers.

Our increasing range of new coverage in the Menifee area has been met with overwhelming positive response, leading to even more growth and change within our "hyperlocal" news company. The redesign of our website and increased participation in the community with events such as the recent Menifee 24/7 Candidates Forum are all factors that have led up to the staff expansion we are proud to announce today.

Daniel Millhouse (right) has been named Managing Editor for our parent company, Premier Media. While reporting directly to Editor Doug Spoon, Millhouse will assist in the daily operations of the editorial departments of both Menifee 24/7 and its sister publication, Murrieta 24/7.

Millhouse, a Menifee resident, has a background in journalism that includes work in the radio industry as well as writing for print publications. He studied radio/TV/film at Cal State Fullerton and is an accomplished novelist as well as an aspiring screenwriter.

"Daniel's writing and reporting expertise, editing and story planning skills will be a huge boost to our editorial department," Spoon said. "We will have much more complete and thorough news coverage with his addition to the staff."

Also joining the staff this week is staff writer Jillianne Hayes. A local resident, Hayes (left) will cover a variety of news subjects as well as writing feature articles.

"Jill's writing style will be a nice complement to the contributions made by our other writers," said Spoon. "She is a thorough researcher and has a knack for interacting with her sources that brings out the best in them."

The addition of Millhouse and Hayes as regular staff members takes some of the writing duties off the shoulders of Spoon and allows readers to see a variety of faces and writing styles on both the Menifee 24/7 website and Facebook page.

Nichole Horsley (right) recently joined the staff of Premier Media as an administrative assistant. She provides valuable office support and assists with customer relations and marketing for both Menifee 24/7 and Murrieta 24/7.

"It's been a blessing to have Nichole, both in the office and assisting us in the field at community functions," said Kristen Spoon, associate editor for Premier Media. "Her thoroughness in clerical and research have been invaluable to us already, and she is a friendly face in welcoming readers when we're out at local events. Her enthusiasm is indicative of the commitment and energy we want our entire staff to possess."

Megan Faucher (left) has taken on additional responsibilities as our supervisor of social media. She manages both the Menifee 24/7 and Murrieta 24/7 Facebook pages, coordinates posting of advertiser fliers and assists with the reader contests.

"Managing social media has become a huge job in the publishing world, and we're happy to have someone as diligent as Megan in monitoring these sites for us and answering questions from readers," Doug Spoon said.

In the last two years, Menifee 24/7 has grown from a following of 60,000 page views per month to more than 350,000. Our Facebook likes have increased from 6,000 to 19,000. As the company has grown and increased its advertising support, it has become both possible and necessary to add personnel.

These staff additions will enable Menifee 24/7 to more effectively provide additional content to our redesigned website and to be more efficient in dealing with readers. We have become a model for "online only" local news coverage in the ever-changing world of journalism and we're proud of the progress we have made as Menifee's prime source for news. As always, we thank you for your support and welcome any feedback.

Menifee 24/7 Editor Doug Spoon may be reached via email at doug.spoon@gmail.com. Managing Editor Daniel Millhouse may be reached at dmillhouse247@gmail.com. Send general inquiries, story ideas and submissions for publication to menifee247info@gmail.com.