BY DAN
KENNEDY
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Thursday, July 10, 2003
Is Baron back in the game?
New York Post media reporter Keith Kelly says that Boston
Globe editor Marty
Baron was spied in the
New York Times newsroom yesterday, fueling speculation that
he's in line to become the Times managing editor -- most
likely under Bill Keller, widely identified as the leading candidate
to replace Howell Raines as executive editor. (Via Romenesko.)
Even before Raines and managing
editor Gerald Boyd resigned over the Jayson Blair scandal and its
attendant fallout, Baron was identified as a leading contender for
one of the top two jobs. The fact is that there just aren't all that
many big-time editors anymore, especially ones who -- like Baron --
have some Times experience under their belt.
Baron, a former Editor &
Publisher "Editor of the Year," won Pulitzers at both the
Miami Herald and the Globe, the latter for the paper's
monumental efforts in covering the pedophile-priest crisis in the
Catholic Church.
In the past few weeks, though,
Baron's chances had seemed to fade. As it has become increasingly
likely that Keller -- passed over in favor of Raines two years ago --
would get the top job, Baron's being a white male appeared to be
working against him. In the fevered game of media speculation,
publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. was said to want a woman and/or an
African-American in one of the two top spots. In some circles,
Washington-bureau chief Jill Abramson was all but anointed as
managing editor.
Now, though, things may be moving
back Baron's way.
From the beginning, the managing
editor's job has seemed like a natural fit for Baron if Sulzberger were
inclined to go that way. Baron is only 48, and, given the problems
experienced under the Raines-Boyd regime, one would think Sulzberger
would be inclined to play it safe -- despite his reputation as a risk-taker. Baron would be a gamble as
number one; but as number two, with a clear shot at the top job in,
say, five to eight years, he'd be a natural.
Of course, this is all incredibly
speculative. As
Baron told me last month,
"I don't think there's any purpose served in speculating on that
prospect at all. Right now I'm here, I'm happy, I'm focused on what
I'm doing here, and I don't want to speculate on what might
happen."
The best quote on the subject comes
from Times metropolitan editor Jonathan
Landman, who recently told
the New York Observer's Sridhar Pappu: "I truly know nothing.
It's all a lot of people making stuff up. I don't know; you don't
know. Everybody's making stuff up."
In other words: take all of this
with a grain of salt.
posted at 8:47 AM |
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MEDIA LOG ARCHIVES
Dan Kennedy is senior writer and media critic for the Boston Phoenix.
