In back-to-back media shake-ups yesterday, The New York Observer switched out Editor-in-Chief Kyle Pope after only 15 months, while the New York Times Sunday Magazine bounced two popular, longtime columnists.
“The Ethicist” Randy Cohen was out after 12 years at the magazine, along with the cantankerous Deborah Solomon, who has written the “Questions For…” column at the glossy for eight years.
Editor-in-Chief Hugo Lindgren said a search is on for Solomon’s replacement. In an e-mail announcing her departure, Solomon said she planned to work on an overdue book bio on Norman Rockwell.
Cohen was replaced by the paper’s City Critic columnist, Ariel Kaminer, who edited Cohen’s column when he first landed at the paper.
“This is the natural course of events,” said Lindgren, who took over in September.
At the Observer, staffers weren’t surprised to learn that Pope was out after clashing with owner Jared Kushner.
His replacement, Elizabeth Spiers, who served as founding editor of media gossip site Gawker and went on to found Dead Horse Media, was a bolt from cyberspace for the staffers of the salmon-colored weekly.
Spiers will be the fourth editor at the paper since Kushner — a scion of a family real estate fortune who is married to Ivanka Trump — bought the paper three years ago.
The Observer is still believed to be losing at least $1 million a year, down from $2 million when he purchased the paper.
“Kushner wants it to be primarily a digital publication with a print outlet,” said a staffer, while Pope, a veteran of the Wall Street Journal, favored the long-form journalism that the paper was famous for originally.
The paper said Pope, who did not return a call, will stay on as an adviser through the end of March.