Kayla Green, executive editor of Gulf Coast Media since October 2021, has joined the ownership group, the company announced recently.
Green joins Kyle Osteen, Jack Osteen and Vince Johnson as partners in Gulf Coast Media, which operates newspapers, magazines and digital operations, including GulfCoastMedia.com.
Green will continue in her role as executive editor of Gulf Coast Media as well as The Sumter Item in South Carolina.
“We believe independent, local ownership for local news is essential, and we’re excited to bring Baldwin County and the Alabama Gulf Coast a vibrant local news source for years to come,” the company said in a joint statement.
Kayla Green lives in Gulf Shores with her husband, Micah Green, who serves as chief digital officer and photojournalist for the company and The Item. Johnson lives in Foley and serves as group publisher for Gulf Coast Media, while brothers Kyle and Jack Osteen both live in South Carolina.
Since becoming executive editor, Green has led increased local coverage around growth and development, food and culture and environmental impacts across Baldwin County. GCM became a host newsroom for Report for America in that time, and all departments of the company, from the newsroom to graphics and advertising to classifieds, has been awarded for its work on the state level.
Gulf Coast Media produces The Courier, The Onlooker and The Islander newspapers for Baldwin County each Wednesday, as well as The Baldwin Times every Friday. The company also produces a variety of magazines, including the Alabama Gulf Coast Visitors Guide, Big Beautiful Baldwin and numerous official guides to festivals and the county. Taste, a food and coastal lifestyle brand and magazine centered in Baldwin County, also recently launched, and Best of Baldwin, the annual readers’ choice contest and event that has grown significantly in recent years, is a staple of GCM’s annual schedule.
"I've lived and worked in multiple states throughout the Southeast, and the five years I've spent here so far have been the most encouraging landscape for local news and personal quality of life,” Green said. “There's a reason so many people want to live here, and that also makes it a community where people need to know what's happening around them, and that's our main goal at Gulf Coast Media.”
Green received her bachelor's in journalism from the University of Florida and has been working in local news since 2009. She has led newsrooms as editor since 2017, including at the Forsyth County News in Cumming, Georgia, and The Item in South Carolina. The Greens and Johnson have worked together at those papers since 2015.
To subscribe to Gulf Coast Media, go to www.GulfCoastMedia.com/subscribe. To make a tax-deductible donation to GCM’s Local News Fund, go to www.GulfCoastMedia.com/donate.
