Posted on 11/14/2011 3:51:08 PM PST by Second Amendment First
It was a dizzying day at Tina Brown’s Newsweek/The Daily Beast.
The publisher was let go and the managing editor and executive editor resigned – signs of both how hard it has been for the money-losing magazine and website to turn things around, and how challenging it can be to work in the shadow of publishing’s most famous, and often fickle, editor.
Executive editor Edward Felsenthal has been with The Daily Beast since its launch – and mentioned in a 2009 New York Observer piece that he was “exhausted” by the experience. He was close to Brown, and seen as the primary buffer between her and the rest of the staff. He explained the move in a note to staff.
“A few months ago, I told Tina and Steve Colvin I thought it was time for me to start thinking about other directions. It was hugely important to me to help get this merger off with momentum and energy,” he wrote. “Now that we are a year in, I'm considering other opportunities, and I believe it makes sense for some changes in leadership as well.”
Felsenthal is in talks with Brown to continue in some as-yet-undetermined role with the newsweekly in coming months, and, in the short term, to spend some time with his family, according to Beast spokesman Andrew Kirk.
He is being replaced by Justine Rosenthal, formerly the editor of the Washington-based National Interest, who joined the Daily Beast in August as a senior editor. She has taught at Georgetown University and was formerly the director of the executive office at the Council on Foreign Relations and the director of the Atlantic Monthly Foundation. Rosenthal will report to Brown.
Tom Weber became the second managing editor to resign from the publication in the past year today, and so it is perhaps not surprising that the managing editor position itself is being retired. Instead, Newsweek veteran Mark Miller is returning to the newsweekly with the title of director of editorial operations.
Weber is leaving to write a book, Kirk said. His predecessor, Brekke Fletcher, left the job after five months for a position at WSJ magazine.
Ray Cheltowski, the publisher since January, was “relieved of his duties,” as the Times put it, and replaced by Eric Danetz, who is coming over from CBS Interactive. Staffers said many were disappointed by his performance. Ad pages have been up, year on year, in the last couple months, but down 21 percent so far this year, compared to the same period last year.
Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™ ping!
Bunch O’ Nuts
It’s dead, Jim.
One can hope POLITICO is next.
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