BW names exec editor, deputy editor in first move by new chief

TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE

Bloomberg BusinessWeek editor Josh Tyrangiel made his first major moves since being named to the top spot by picking a deputy editor and an executive editor.

Here is his announcement late Thursday to the staff:

“It’s my pleasure to announce a few additions to the Bloomberg BusinessWeek staff.

“Eric Pooley will be joining the magazine as Deputy Editor effective February 8th. Formerly the managing editor of Fortune, Eric is a Bloomberg columnist and author of the upcoming book ‘The Climate War: True Believers, Power Brokers, and the Eleventh-Hour Fight to Save the Earth.’ I worked with Eric during his stint as the editor of TIME’s European edition and can say that he’s one of the finest editors in the business. And his writing ain’t bad either.

“Hugo Lindgren will be starting as Executive Editor effective March 8th. Currently the editorial director of New York Magazine, Hugo has a long record of editing top notch feature stories and memorable special issues, both at New York and, prior to that, at the New York Times Magazine. He brings tremendous energy and creativity, and like Eric, is a talented writer on subjects ranging from music and sports to finance and politics.

“Last but not at all least, I’m thrilled to announce that Executive Editor Ellen Pollock and Managing Editor Ciro Scotti will fill out our top management team. I don’t need to tell anyone how crucial Ellen and Ciro are to what we do, but I’ll do it anyway. Ciro’s calm in the center of our weekly storm, mastery of detail and insistence that every headline can be improved are an inspiration. Ellen merely holds everything together, making our stories smarter and our days a lot more fun and chocolate-filled.

“Please join me in congratulating Eric, Hugo, Ciro and Ellen.”

BusinessWeek has never had a deputy editor before, but since Tyrangiel doesn’t have much business journalism background, putting in Pooley makes since. However, Pooley’s tenure at the top of Fortune magazine was short as his management style rubbed some people the wrong way. Lindgren essentially replaces former executive editor John Byrne, although Byrne’s focus was primarily online.

And the retaining of Pollock and Scotti — both well-liked by the staff — should be somewhat soothing to the reporters and editors who remain.

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View Comments

Mark Richard says:
January 29, 2010 at 5:40 pm
Sounds like old-boy network stuff to me. Pooley wrote perhaps the dumbest puff-piece on a politician of the past decade - an exaltation of uber-phony John Edwards in the August 31, 2007, issue of TIME, a piece I expect he wishes he had never written. Look it up - it's borderline incredible. The piece went to the length of offering a rationalization of Edwards' investments in tax shelters which foreclosed on Hurricane Katrina victims' houses, because, get this, Edwards would not 'personally' benefit from his flat-earth, leftist economc 'plan'. Pooley called this objection to Edwards 'dumb'. By that token, it's also 'dumb' to criticize Christian Right politicians who get caught in sex scandals, I guess; their advocacy of family values doesn't 'benefit' then personally. Edwards was an obviously hollow man even then, but this birdbrain was too blinded by political ideology to notice it. Real perceptive.
You can 'fail upward' in NY/DC media circles by sticking to an urban/modernist/'progressive' narrative, known to all, no matter how dumb it makes you look; James Fallows has gone from one prestigious post to the next in spite of (a) investing heavily in the Jimmy Carter presidency, and (b) urging the Japanese economy as a model for the U.S. just before it went into the tank in the late 1980s. No wonder the mainstream media is so widely mistrusted and laughed at.