Oregonian editor Sandy Rowe is stepping down, to be replaced by executive editor Peter Bhatia. Bhatia is the same forward-thinking dude who told City Club in April that he thought the Kindle might save newspapers. That, and the fact that you can’t take your laptop into the bathroom to read the paper online while you’re having a shit.
“The Oregonian has had one bad year,” he said. “This last year, and as far as we know, it’s the first bad year we’ve had.”
Until the next one. From the O:
Sandra Mims Rowe, editor of The Oregonian since 1993, announced today that she is leaving the newspaper at the end of the year.
Rowe built a local and regional newsroom with a national reputation for high-quality journalism across news, features and editorial pages. The Oregonian won five Pulitzer Prizes and numerous additional national awards under her leadership and was repeatedly cited as one of the best newspapers in the United States.
N. Christian Anderson III, publisher of The Oregonian, named Peter Bhatia, the paper’s executive editor, as Rowe’s successor. Rowe hired Bhatia as managing editor in late 1993 and named him executive editor in 1997. Bhatia, a Stanford University graduate, grew up in Pullman, Wash.
A Stanford graduate! Goodness. So, is it time to be gracious, and thank Rowe for being a “journalism hero”? Perhaps. Although Anna Griffin already did that on Facebook. So, well done, Sandy Rowe! You’re a journalism hero. But is it also time for a caption contest slash photosh-ompetition? Indeed, it’s only fitting, at least, until the O’s lawyers contact us asking for the photo to be removed:
- ROWE (LEFT) AND BHATIA (RIGHT): PHOTO FROM THE O’S WEBSITE
Tell us about this “personal computer” we’ve been hearing so much about.
Ummm, but isn’t that newfangled netbook thing meant for shitting while reading oregonlive.com? Or have I been doing it wrong?
I was there, and that City Club talk by Bhatia was classic whistling on a dark street in an unsafe neighborhood.
http://api.ning.com/files/*obe3b*is7M3YNXg…
I’m excited to see Bhatia relaunch the print O as a smart, tight, beautifully designed two-section compact (see Mario Garcia’s recent redesign of Germany’s Handelsblatt), minus all the under-edited wire copy and plus a bunch of innovative graphic features and great columns that take advantage of the O staff’s strengths. Also super-psyched for the new, actually useful OregonLive.
I mean, that’s the plan, right? Right?
Funny, since less than a year ago, they were running (syndicated) columns like this:
http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ss…
“One uses Twitter to send tweets (no, I am NOT making that up!) i.e., electronic notes, to one’s online friends, family and other subscribers.”
This is my favorite comment from that column:
“I look forward to future columns where Mr. Pitts advances these comparably visionary statements:
* Model T owners should just get a horse
* Burns and Allen can only be truly appreciated on the wireless
* The internet will never, ever have an impact on print journalism