Anthony W. McCarthy, former communications director to U.S. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, is taking over as editor-in-chief of Baltimore's Afro-American newspaper.

McCarthy, 30, worked for the weekly as a political reporter in 1995 before leaving to join Kurt Schmoke's staff as editor of the mayor's monthly publication, Baltimore Progress, where he stayed until the fall of 1996. He then worked for Cummings until November of last year. He is director of community affairs for Church Hospital in East Baltimore.

"I've been interested in politics and journalism since I was a small boy," McCarthy said yesterday. "It has everything to do with freedom of information and people having the whole story and the truth."

McCarthy, who grew up in Grottoes, Va., in the Shenandoah Valley, said it was his parents who sparked the interest.

"My mother was a factory worker and my father worked for the city government -- he was a trash collector -- and one thing they instilled in me was the importance of education and hard work," he said.

His family subscribed to the now-defunct Richmond Afro-American when McCarthy was growing up, and one of his heroes in the 1970s was former Baltimore reporter and editor James Williams.

McCarthy, who earlier this year made an unsuccessful bid for a House seat in the state's 44th Legislative District, graduated from Eastern Mennonite College in 1990 with a degree in English and journalism and received his masters of divinity from Howard University in 1992.

McCarthy is replacing Talibah L. Chikwendu, who will take a position as editor of the paper's monthly supplements.

"We created the position for her at her request," said John J. Oliver Jr., publisher and chairman of the board. "She is a brand-new mom, and this will allow her to raise her child and enjoy her baby."

Oliver, the great-grandson of John H. Murphy, who founded the paper in 1892, said there were several other candidates for the job.

"But once I saw Anthony McCarthy, that was it," he said. "I just had to talk to him for a couple of minutes, and I knew he was the person I wanted."

Oliver said he expects McCarthy to help the paper expand, to become more competitive and "to more effectively address the issues of the minority community of the metropolitan Baltimore region."

McCarthy said politics agrees with him, but journalism has always been his first love. He sees "immense opportunities" at the paper, which has a circulation of about 15,000 and a readership of approximately 50,000. (Its World Wide Web site, www.afro.com, gets around 65,000 hits a day; about 7,000 people, Oliver said.)

"What I want to see the Afro-American newspaper do is focus on issues of quality of life; literacy must be a priority," McCarthy said. "I want to see us recapture the old glory of the Afro-American when it was involved in critical issues and have important discussions on public debate and social policy."

Cummings, who writes a weekly opinion piece for the Afro-American, said McCarthy will serve the paper well.

"He's thorough, sensitive to the issues of the greater Baltimore community, he's extremely bright and extremely dependable and he's an excellent writer. He works 18 hours a day, seven days a week," Cummings said.

Cummings, who sold the Afro-American on buses when he was a boy, said the paper is a vital part of the community. "It definitely addresses issues that a lot of times The Sun doesn't get to and it also addresses issues which concern mainly African-American people from a local, state and national and even international standpoint," he said. "You just don't see that in The Sun."

Pub Date: 12/03/98