Veteran biz journalist Pearlstine named LA Times executive editor

Norm Pearlstine

Veteran business journalist Norman Pearlstine, who worked at The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News and Time Inc. magazines, has been named the executive editor of the Los Angeles Times.

Meg James of The Times writes, “It was the first major move by Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, who completed his $500-million purchase of The Times, San Diego Union-Tribune, Spanish-language Hoy and several community papers from Chicago newspaper company Tronc.

“During the last two months, Pearlstine, 75, has served as an advisor to Soon-Shiong, charged with creating a transition plan. He will now help execute that plan.

“‘Not only does he have amazing experience with the full knowledge of how a newsroom runs — but he’s amazingly modern and forward-looking,’ Soon-Shiong said. ‘There’s no agenda, other than to make this the best journalistic institution. We’re lucky to be able to capture him.'”

Read more here. He worked for The Journal for 23 years, including eight years as its managing editor and before that as the first managing editor of the Journal’s Asian edition and the first editor and publisher of its European edition. He also worked for two years as executive editor of Forbes magazine.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.