Associated Press
The “help wanted” list for top management jobs in journalism is suddenly getting very long.
Searches for new leaders at brand names like The Washington Post, ABC News and the Los Angeles Times are coming at a time of rapid change in the news industry and increased attention paid to diversity in decision-making roles.
The two latest openings came this week when Marty Baron, the executive editor who transformed the Post over the past eight years, and ABC News President James Goldston both said they will step down over the next two months.
The Los Angeles Times is further along in its search for a successor to Executive Editor Norman Pearlstine. The Reuters news agency is looking to replace its editor-in-chief, Stephen Adler, who is retiring on April 1. HuffPost and Vox Media need leaders, too.
Dean Baquet, executive editor of The New York Times, is the subject of speculation, both because his job is the golden ring of journalism and he’s 64 years old. By tradition, the Times’ top editor steps down before reaching 66.
CNN chief Jeff Zucker, whose name was frequently invoked by former President Donald Trump during his administration’s battles with the media, is expected to announce soon whether or not he will move on.
Both Baron and Goldston cited the end of an intense election cycle and its exhaustive pace of news as a natural time to turn the page.
The moves offer news organizations a chance to anoint a new generation of leaders at a time the businesses need to be nimble and, following a reckoning brought on partly by society’s reaction to George Floyd’s death last spring, mindful of having a staff and stories that reflect their communities.
“What we’re going to have to do is really look at a lot of people who aren’t the usual suspects,” said Jill Geisler, an expert on media leadership at Loyola University of Chicago’s communication school.
