'NY TIMES' MANAGING EDITOR MOVES TO OP-ED

By: Joe Strupp Keller To Also Write For Sunday Magazine


Less than a month after being passed over for the executive
editor's post at The New York Times, Managing Editor Bill
Keller has decided to leave the editing ranks to write for the
paper's Op-Ed page and Sunday magazine.

Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. announced Tuesday
that Keller, 52, would write an op-ed column every other week, as
well as several articles a year for The New York Times
Magazine and other sections of the paper beginning in the
fall. "Bill is an extraordinary writer whose insight and
commentary will enrich our Op-Ed pages and magazine" Sulzberger
said in a statement.

News of Keller's pending job change follows Sulzberger's
promotion last month of Editorial Page Editor Howell Raines to
the executive editor spot, which is being vacated by the retiring
Joseph Lelyveld. Keller had been in the running for the position,
which Raines is expected to take over in the fall.

"It's hog-heaven," Keller said about the new assignment during a
phone interview with E&P Online. "I get to write for two of the
premiere showcases in journalism. And I have a delicious degree
of autonomy."

Keller would not reveal if he approached Sulzberger with the idea
of the writing positions or if the publisher came to him, saying
only that it was "cooked up in conversations." Raines has not
named a new managing editor, but he is expected to do so within
the next few months.

Having served as an editor since 1995, Keller said the opinion
journalism aspect of the new job would be a challenge to him, but
he added: "It's exciting to be scared." He also considered the
new position to be a permanent assignment, downplaying previous
speculation that he might leave the newspaper in the wake of
Raines' promotion.

"It is not an interim job," he said. "I've never planned very far
ahead, but this is something I plan to be doing for a while."

Since Keller is six years younger than Raines, and Sulzberger has
said that no executive editor should remain in the job for more
than six or seven years, speculation had arisen that Keller might
still be a candidate for the executive editor job in the future.



Joe Strupp (jstrupp@editorandpublisher.com) is an associate editor for E&P.



Related stories:
HOWELL RAINES: 'AGGRESSIVE,' 'GIFTED,' 'THOUGHTFUL' (05/28/01)
RAINES' WASHINGTON DAYS IN REVIEW (05/28/01)
ANALYSIS: WHEN IT RAINES, IT POURS (05/28/01)
NEW YORK TIMES NAMES NEW EXECUTIVE EDITOR (05/21/01)



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