Romenesko Memos
Michael Paulson, who joined the Globe in 2000, “quickly established himself as a peerless religion reporter and nine years ago helped cover the Catholic Church’s systematic failure to protect children from abusive priests,” says a memo announcing his departure. Currently Globe city editor, Paulson will leave the paper on April Fool’s Day. The memo is after the jump.
Memo to Boston Globe staff from local news editor Jennifer Peter
It is with a heavy heart that I announce that Michael Paulson, our city
editor extraordinaire and an invaluable colleague for the past 11 years,
will be leaving us soon to take a job editing local politics and religion
at the New York Times. There is no way to put a good spin on his departure.
During his time at the Globe, Michael has been a leader in every way, as a
nationally renowned religion reporter who helped break one of the most
important stories in the paper’s history; as a skilled editor whose
thoughtfulness enriched our section and the newspaper as a whole over the
past year; and as a mentor to many throughout the newsroom ranks, even
before he entered management. His dedication to the Globe went far beyond
the journalism he produced and the prizes he won (and those were many). He
was a fierce defender of the Globe’s reputation and would often ask
probing, sometimes difficult, questions about decisions made about its
future, always with an eye to maintaining its stature within the community
and within the industry. Because of this, he became a sounding board for
many, including myself. We will miss that counsel.
Michael came to the Globe in January 2000 from the Seattle
Post-Intelligencer, where he had covered city, state and national politics.
Here, he quickly established himself as a peerless religion reporter and
nine years ago helped cover the Catholic Church’s systematic failure to
protect children from abusive priests. The coverage won the newspaper the
Pulitzer Prize for public service. During his long tenure on the beat, he
became an authority on the many communities of faith within the region,
producing work that won him a national religion award — the Wilbur — four
years in a row. In 2009, he joined the city desk to help lead coverage of
the last mayoral race and the special Senate election, and then rose to
city editor a year ago. At the time, in a note announcing his new role, I
said I was confident that our local news operation and the Globe as a whole
would be stronger with him in this position. And I was right.
With his creative mind and knowledge of the community, Michael was able to
elevate our coverage during a year of extraordinary news: the Amy Bishop
case, the Mattapan murders, local ramifications of the Haiti earthquake,
and the big water main break. That last story broke on the first weekend he
was in charge of the department, as I began my maternity leave, and he ran
it like a pro — a trend that continued during his three months at the
helm.
Michael will join the Times as their metro political editor, a position
most recently held by a former colleague of ours, whom I congratulate on
her choice of a successor (even as I defriend her on Facebook). His last
day here will be April Fool’s Day. No joke.
We will immediately conduct a wide search for his replacement.
Please join me in thanking Michael for his contributions to the Globe and
wishing him luck in New York.
Jen
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