Former NYT econ reporter Andrews to Fiscal Times

Former New York Times economics reporter Edmund Andrews has landed a job at the Fiscal Times, a new digital news service covering fiscal and budgetary issues, reports Michael Calderone of Politico.com.

Calderone writes, “Andrews had been one of the top writers at the Times covering economics and fiscal policy and last year gained more attention for his book documenting his own financial troubles associated with the mortgage crisis.

“While he will not be working for the Fiscal Times on a full-time basis, Andrews said by phone that he has already committed to write some pieces. The upstart news organization will soon launch a website and is forging partnerships to run its content in other outlets — the first example running in The Washington Post last week.

“But that first piece drew fire from critics, who questioned the Post’s running a piece on Social Security from an outlet funded by Pete Peterson, the billionaire Wall Street financier who’s been a longtime critic of the Social Security system. Post Editor Marcus Brauchli defended running the article, and Fiscal Times Washington Editor Eric Pianin told POLITICO that the staff are ‘not advocates’ in the issues they cover.

“Andrews said he followed the recent controversy but, in conversations with Pianin before joining, was convinced that there is a separation between the Peterson Foundation and the Fiscal Times editorial product.”

Read more here.