Business

Digital power struggle divides Daily News staff

The Daily News is reshuffling the ranks of top editors, leading some to wonder who is manning the ship.

Editor-in-Chief Kevin Convey, who is said to be under pressure from owner Mort Zuckerman, earlier this week called in seven of the managing editors and told them the paper was going to a new management structure, which would have only three managing editors on the masthead.

Late Tuesday, he sent around a memo to staffers, asking them to “congratulate” Senior Executive Editor Bob Sapio, Senior Managing Editor of Digital Scott Cohen and Senior Editor of Convergence Adam Berkowitz on their “promotions” to managing editors.

But since two of the editors, Sapio and Cohen, already had titles that suggested they were above the rank of managing editor, the memo was rather perplexing to insiders. Also, the inclusion of Berkowitz seemed to confirm fears throughout the newsroom among the old guard print reporters that their status was being diminished and the digital side is being given more clout.

“There is a real battle internally between old media and new,” said one source. That was cited as a key reason for Convey’s ouster of Stuart Marques, a senior managing editor, two weeks ago.

Oddly, while Convey announced the move internally late Tuesday, the News has yet to change the printed masthead it publishes in the paper each day.

One source said the seven departmental managing editors objected when told by Convey that they might be losing the ME designation. One source close to the situation said the demoralized MEs asked to huddle with CEO William Holiber.

“If these other guys keep their ME titles, it means they will now have 10 managing editors,” one source told Media Ink. “If this keeps up, they may soon have more managing editors than readers.”

The News’ circulation is believed to have plunged to its lowest level since the early 1920s, with one report suggesting the print edition has been averaging just 448,366 paid circulation a day for the past 12 months.

The Audit Bureau of Circulations releases its six-month figures for the period ended Sept 30 on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, none of the MEs could be reached for comment. Holiber and Convey referred calls to the corporate spokeswoman Jennifer Mauer, who said, “We don’t comment on personnel matters.”

The ME overhaul comes as the paper made an embarrassing gaffe yesterday, running a story by reporter Rich Schapiro on page 4 about the city’s quest to lure a new “genius school” to the city — and then using the same story under a different headline again on page 8.

The story appeared to run in most editions of the paper. Before his ouster, Marques would normally have been charged with catching that type of glitch.

In a statement yesterday, a News spokeswoman said, “We are in the process of transitioning to a new content management system and a slight technical error in the system caused one story to appear in two places in the later editions of the paper.”

Rodale re-do

Rodale, which fired two dozen people last week and has seen its executive ranks decimated, yesterday unveiled a new corporate structure that splits the company into three new groups.

Rodale also elevated its two highest-profile editors — David Zinczenko of Men’s Heath and “Eat This, Not That” fame, and David Willey of Runner’s World — into new group executive/general manager roles.

In an interview with Media Ink, Chairwoman and CEO Maria Rodale conceded that “the past year has been very challenging, there is no denying that.”

“We still believe very strongly in print, but we are redefining ourselves as a lifestyle company,” she said.

In a memo to employees, Rodale said the new group general managers “will have full responsibility and final decision-making authority for their brands, their customers and their businesses.”

One source said that he expected to see more licensing deals, which would slap Men’s Health or Runner’s World on apparel and sports attire, as well as a push to develop the company’s digital properties.

Zinczenko is going to be an executive vice president/general manager in charge of a newly designated Healthy Living Group, which includes Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Prevention and Organic Gardening.

Zinczenko’s star seems to be rising fast. His EVP job gives him the third-highest rank in the company, behind Maria Rodale and CFO Tom Pogash, and on a par with the general counsel Paul McGinley.

Willey will be a senior vice president/general manager in charge of the Active Living Group, which will include Runner’s World, Running Times and Bicycling.

The third group will be the digital/new brand development group. Maria Rodale said she is hunting for a new general manager to lead it.

kkelly@nypost.com