A second top editorial talent this week is exiting Jill Abramson’s staff at the New York Times.
Rick Berke, a one-time assistant managing editor and now a senior editor in charge of the video division, is jumping to Washington, D.C.-based Politico.com as executive editor.
Earlier this week, the Times lost tech columnist David Pogue to Yahoo! and in August lost stats whiz Nate Silver and his FiveThirtyEight blog to ESPN.
Berke’s departure is more freighted with personal drama.
The 55-year-old Berke at one time was seen as a close ally of Abramson, and some said was her choice to become managing editor when she landed the top editor job.
Instead, publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. installed Dean Baquet as managing editor. Baquet and Abramson have had some rather public eruptions in the newsroom.
In March 2012, Berke emerged as a candidate for the managing editor’s job at the Washington Post.
Berke says he ultimately pulled out of the running. But when news of it leaked, one source said, “Jill felt betrayed.”
Fast-forward to February, following the big buyout of other masthead editors, he lost his assistant managing editor stripes and was made senior editor in charge of a new video division.
Many saw it as Berke being sent into exile — although Berke disputed that. “They told me it was one of the areas they were investing in quite heavily and I believed them,” said Berke.
Regarding Abramson, he said, “We’ve worked closely together for years. We’ve had our ups and downs over the years, but we’ll continue to be friends. This was just a great opportunity.”
Abramson, through a spokesperson, said Berke is “one of the most distinguished political journalists of our time … In the past, we competed against each other as reporters and I look forward to competing against him again. Politico is lucky to have him as executive editor.”
John Harris, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Politico, said Berke “is a great idea-generator. He can see stories that other people miss.”