Philadelphia Shake-up: Marimow No Longer Top Editor

Evidently, even being a two-time Pulitzer winner isn’t enough to ensure a top editorial position in Philadelphia.

Bill Marimow, editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer, is stepping down as executive editor and will be replaced by the paper's new owner but will stay on staff as a reporter. The Inquirer’s new owners, who closed the purchase deal of the Inquirer and the Daily News on Friday, informed Marimow that his lack of background in digital media impaired his ability to take the newspaper forward, the Inquirer reported.

Marimow, 63, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, will continue at the Inquirer as an investigative reporter.

While a search begins for a new editor, Stan Wischnowski, the Inquirer's deputy managing editor/operations and vice president for shared services, has been named acting editor. Wischnowski, 48, has been with the Inquirer since 2000, and previously served as deputy managing editor/news and acting managing editor of the Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle and Sunday copy desk chief at the Detroit News.

Marimow’s was not the only executive position affected. Richard Thayer, executive vice president for finance, and General Counsel Scott Baker are also leaving the paper. More such announcements are expected.

"Being the editor of my hometown paper has been a pleasure and a privilege," Marimow told the Inquirer for its report Friday. "By any objective measures, the newspaper, in print and online, has real momentum in terms of journalistic excellence.”

Marimow started at the Evening Bulletin before joining the Inquirer in 1972, where won Pulitzers for his investigations of abuses by Philadelphia police. He later served as city editor and as assistant to publisher Robert J. Hall, who is the chief operating officer for the newly minted Philadelphia Media Network.

He joined The Baltimore Sun as metropolitan editor in 1993, and was promoted to managing editor before he was named editor. The Sun won three Pulitzers under his leadership before Marimow left in 2004.

Most recently, Marimow was managing editor for news for NPR, and served as vice president/news and the radio network's ombudsman before being hired as the Inquirer’s editor by former Philadelphia Newspapers  chief executive officer Brian P. Tierney.