Charlie McKenna is a reporter and editor at Essex Media Group, covering the towns of Saugus and Marblehead, and the City of Peabody.

At The Item, McKenna works as the paper’s Saugus beat reporter, responsible for generating one A1 story from the community each day. He has crafted source relationships with high-ranking elected officials, including the town manager and the chair of the Board of Selectmen. Over the course of his time on the beat, McKenna wrote some of the best-performing stories on itemlive.com, including a story on the decrepit Karla’s Shoes building on Route 1 that was one of the top performers of 2022. McKenna helped launch the company’s latest publication, Marblehead Weekly News, and became one of the paper’s lead reporters, covering complex topics like a proposed ta. At Essex Media Group, McKenna was responsible for balancing daily responsibilities with weekly assignments as well as long-term magazine pieces.

At EMG, McKenna also oversaw the paper’s coverage of eight north shore communities before moving back to his current post as a reporter. While doing so, he directed news coverage and worked with reporters to develop their beats.

McKenna previously worked as a Metro Correspondent at The Boston Globe, where he reported on deadly construction accidents, chilling crime stories, and sifted through dozens of pages of public records, utilizing state and federal databases to uncover key details. He also worked as a co-op on the paper’s Express Desk, where he reported a number of news features, including the reopening of the USS Constitution, and an annular solar eclipse.