Editor Bill Marimow will leave The Philadelphia Inquirer, a source at the newspaper tells Poynter. Marimow and Publisher Bob Hall had a “difference in philosophical vision in the direction of the paper,” the source says. The newsroom was scheduled to learn of Marimow’s departure this afternoon, the source said. There’s no timetable yet for Marimow’s departure.
An email from Hall to staffers said Stan Wischnowski, who replaced Marimow after the first time the Inquirer let him go in 2010, would be “acting editor.” Jim Romenesko also got the memo and updated his story to say he’d heard Marimow was refusing to leave the building. WHYY senior reporter Dave Davies writes that Hall “instructed Marimow to fire at least two veteran staff members at the newspaper, and that he refused on principle, precipitating his own dismissal.” Davies also says the leaders of Interstate General Media, which bought the Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News last year, “are divided on the question of Marimow’s leadership and other issues.”
South Jersey businessman and political power broker George Norcross as well as publisher Bob Hall want Marimow out, sources say, while former New Jersey nets owner Lewis Katz and philanthropist H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest oppose the move.
In April 2012, the owners announced they would bring back Marimow as editor. In an interview that month, he told me about the benefits of local ownership:
“If you’re gonna have a news organization you’re proud of,” Marimow says, “You’re going to have to care about the staff.” Local ownership he says, will be concerned about the well-being of everyone from “the rookie reporter covering police” to drivers. The comfort of those people will manifest itself as must-read journalism. “I think when you have content online and in print that is indispensable,” he says, “you’re also laying the foundation for a viable business.”
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