Latest News → MediaWire

Frank Rich quits NYT for New York magazine

avatar by Published Mar. 1, 2011 9:44 am Updated Mar. 1, 2011 12:43 pm

New York
Frank Rich will write a monthly column on politics and culture and serve as an editor-at-large, editing a special monthly section anchored by his essay. “I leave the paper with deep affection for both the institution and my many brilliant colleagues,” he says, “and with much gratitude for the opportunity the paper gave me to serve in two dream jobs in journalism.” Rich adds that New York editor Adam Moss “has played a crucial role in my writing life since the late 1980s and who, as editor of the Times Magazine, was instrumental in my transition from arts criticism to broader essay writing.” || Read the memo to NYT’s staff. || Another memo: Joe Nocera moves from the business section to the op-ed page.

We have made it easy to comment on posts, however we require civility and encourage full names to that end (first initial, last name is OK). Please read our guidelines here before commenting.

  • Anonymous

    Sorry for my lack of clarity. Yes, Royko’s column ran in the Daily News, but the source of my information was a news executive at the Sun-Times and I should have made that clear.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Hendricks/1634242432 Mike Hendricks

    Re. Royko: He was at The Chicago Daily News in the early ’70s and moved to the sister paper, the Sun-Times, when the Daily News folded in 1978. I remember picking up that last edition as I passed through O’Hare that day. Mike was on page one, I believe.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=628233825 Trevor Butterworth

    I don’t know if Rich’s departure is awful; maybe in the original sense of the word, but really – how vital can a once-a-week column that mined very little new territory be to the paper? Granted, the move to NYMag is a signal of deep parochial value to certain kind of New Yorker. Nocera, on the other hand, adds a verve to the op-ed page that has a more national and international appeal.

  • Anonymous

    This is awful for The Times, but may be very profitable for NY Magazine, which is a vastly smaller organization so hiring one great talent could have big results.

    A year or two from now it will be interesting to look at Sunday NYT circulation (will it fall?) and increases in NY Mag circulation (will it rise?)

    When Mike Royko fell ill in the early 70s, a Chicago Sun-Times news executive told me, circulation dropped as much as 40,000 or about 10 percent. When Blackie Sherrod, the sports columnist, quit the Dallas Times-Herald for the Morning News it moved enough readers to seal the T-H’s fate.

    The effects here are not going to be that large, but I hope someone (David Cole? John Morton?) will analyze the circulation data for us in the future and see if there is a measurable effect and its size.