The Village Voice finally named a new editor-in-chief yesterday – and hopefully this one will keep the job.
Veteran journalist David Blum was named to the top editorial post at the storied alternative weekly, an appointment that came after an arduous search process that included one candidate accepting the job, only to abruptly quit before he started.
Blum, who cut his teeth at the Wall Street Journal in the late 1970s and early 1980s before moving on to Esquire and New York magazine, will start Sept. 12.
“I really love reporting and narrative journalism in New York,” said Blum. “I’d like to make [The Voice] a must read, like it once was.”
In May, Erik Wemple, editor of Washington City Paper, accepted the job, and then the next month said he would not take the position. He cited disagreements with the paper’s ownership as the reason for abandoning the post.
In January, Village Voice Media merged with New Times Media, a Phoenix-based chain the runs alternative weekly newspapers.
In March, Managing Editor Doug Simmons, who was running the paper on an interim basis, was booted after a writer admitted to fabrications in a cover story.
Blum last wrote for New York magazine in December when he penned a piece on network news following the death of Peter Jennings.
Blum has also been the television critic for the New York Sun and an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s graduate journalism school.