By: E&P Staff Rumors have been building for days, and today they bore fruit. Michael Cooke, editor in chief of the Chicago Sun-Times, disclosed that he was taking the same position with the Daily News in New York. He will start next month.
The New York tabloid has been without a top editor since Edward Kosner departed more than a year ago. Cooke has been at the Sun-Times since 2000. His publisher, John Cruickshank, said earlier this week that he knew Cooke was being courted.
In a press release issued Thursday, Daily News President and Publisher Mortimer B. Zuckerman said: "I am delighted that Michael has decided to join the winning team we are assembling at the Daily News. His skill and enthusiasm are well known throughout the industry and he will bring even more tabloid expertise to our already highly skilled staff."
Daily News Editorial Director Martin Dunn added: "I have known Michael for a long time. I am really excited that he has agreed to lead our wonderfully talented team of journalists, which we will be strengthening even further."
In a memo to staffers, posted this afternoon at the Romenesko site at the Poynter Institute, Cooke admitted that this was "the most closely guarded secret in Chicago journalism."
Ann Marie Lipinski, the Chicago Tribune's executive editor, told E&P she was not surprised that Cooke would leave town. "I never got the feeling he was ever entirely at home in Chicago," she said. "I would have funny conversations with him when he seemed surprised at the way things were done in Chicago."
Cooke's memo said: "While I am no stranger to false modesty, let me tell you this: I know why I have been given this opportunity. Mort Zuckerman, owner of the Daily News, told me straight out he was truly impressed by the quality of the local journalism we have in our paper (he particularly mentioned the investigative series of the past year), by the quality of our writing, and by the energetic and imaginative way our paper is put together.
"And for that, I thank all of YOU. I am deeply appreciative. Chicago has been wonderful to me. And, like you, I have a love for the Sun-Times.
"The drinks will be on me.
"Well no, actually I hope they'll be on my friend and boss, John Cruickshank."
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