New assistant biz editor named in Philly

Tom Ginsberg, who has covered the pharmaceutical industry for the Philadelphia Inquirer, will become an assistant business editor for the paper “as soon as possible,” according to an e-mail from business editor Tony Gnoffo.

Ginsberg’s primary responsibility, said Gnoffo, will be to “manage and write portions of our irreverent new online and print column, PhillyInc.” That’s the column in the business section sponsored by a local bank that has drawn criticism from journalism ethicists who argue that the sponsorship hurts the biz section’s credibility.

Ginsberg will handle many other backfield tasks, “working as the key assigning editor for two or three reporters and helping to assure that we deliver top-notch reporting online and in print. We wanted Tom for this job largely because he’s brimming with ideas about new ways to reach our audience.”

Added Gnoffo: “Many of those ideas will be tested on PhillyInc and on our Web site.  Of course, we also wanted to have on the desk Tom’s news judgment and smarts developed over 10 years of reporting for The Inquirer on the pharmaceutical industry, labor, immigration and N.J. statehouse, and before that in multiple domestic and foreign Associated Press bureaus, including Stockholm and Moscow. Between Inquirer and AP assignments, Tom has reported from 21 countries (some with bullets flying, which we hope won’t be an issue on the Business Desk).”

By the way, PhillyInc had its first “zinger” aimed at the CEO of its sponsor, Citizens Bank, last week with this item. Gnoffo said, “No one said a word to me about it, so I’m feeling that everything we’ve said about the independence of the column is true.”