Chris Anderson, publisher of the Orange County Register and a key executive for parent Freedom Communications Inc. of Irvine, is leaving the company.

Terry Horne, chief executive and publisher of the Phoenix area’s East Valley Tribune, Freedom’s third largest paper after the Register and Colorado's The Gazette, is replacing Anderson as president and publisher of the Register.

Horne is set to report to Jonathan Segal, president of Freedom Newspapers Inc.

“Orange County offers high quality lifestyle choices like few other places in the country. I’m very pleased to call it my new home,” Horne said.

Anderson started as editor of the Register in 1980 and has been in charge of the county’s largest newspaper since 1999.

He spearheaded reader-friendly changes and prevailed in a coverage war with the Los Angeles Times.

"It is time for me to move on,” Anderson said in a statement. “If someone had told me in 1980 I would spend 27 years with a single company, I would have thought he was nuts. I embraced Freedom's legacy values and gained much as a result. Now I have new experiences to undertake and look forward to that."

As head of Freedom Orange County Information, the unit that publishes the Register, Anderson has overseen magazines, a weekly Spanish-language paper, Web sites and the launch of a second daily newspaper, the OC Post.

Like other media companies, Freedom has struggled with declining advertising at the Register and other big papers.

In June, Freedom tried to name a new publisher for the Register. Marti Buscaglia, former publisher of the Duluth News Tribune in Minnesota, was set to take over before issues with her resume arose.

Anderson was set to focus on Internet and other areas for growth.

Last year, Anderson turned over oversight of Freedom papers in Arizona and Colorado to focus on the Register and OC Post.

He’s set to leave on Sept. 15 and serve as a consultant after that, according to sources.