'Inquirer' Editor Works On Grand Plan

By: Lucia Moses Newly minted Philadelphia Inquirer Editor Walker Lundy has moved several features reporters into news and elevated a popular city editor, Virginia Smith, to suburban editor.

But Lundy told staff it will be a couple more months before he unveils a grand plan to build suburban readership with a downsized staff. He has been meeting with small groups of staffers to solicit their opinions on improving the newspaper.

"He's made it clear we're not going to abandon urban coverage, but we do have to figure out a way to be more relevant to the suburban areas, where 70% of our market lives," veteran reporter Henry J. Holcomb said.

Walker's predecessor, Robert J. Rosenthal, who left last month, hadn't allocated as many resources to suburban coverage as top management wanted him to. In the six months ended Sept. 30, the Inquirer's daily circulation declined 8.8%.