Carole Leigh Hutton, former editor and publisher of the Detroit Free Press, has been appointed publisher of the Palo Alto-based Daily News Group and vice president of California Newspapers Partnership (CNP), the company controlled by Dean Singleton’s MediaNews. Hutton replaces Shareef Dajani, who was publisher of the free daily newspaper chain for 12 months. Dajani will become CNP’s vice president of targeted publications, which include Jobs & Careers, Autofinder and Silicon Valley Homes.

Hutton comes from news side of the business while Dajani’s background was in advertising. Most recently, Hutton was Knight Ridder’s vice president/news. She replaced Jerry Ceppos on Sept. 6, 2005 and remained with KR until it sold its newspapers and closed in July 2006. Hutton previously was at the Detroit Free Press, starting as city editor in 1990. According to a Knight Ridder press release from 2005, she steadily moved up through a series of management jobs at the Detroit paper to become executive editor in June 2002, then editor and publisher in 2004.

Hutton earned a B.A. in journalism from Michigan State University in 1978. Her first jobs out of college were with newspapers in Natick, Mass., and Hammond, Ind. In March 2002, Hutton was named one of the 100 Most Influential Women of southeast Michigan by Crain’s Detroit Business.

In her new role, she will become publisher of the Daily News Group, which publishes six newspapers in the Bay Area (Berkeley, Burlingame, Los Gatos, Palo Alto, Redwood City and San Mateo), and will oversee the San Mateo County Times, Silicon Valley Community Newspapers and the Pacifica Tribune.