‘Chicago Tribune’ Editor Follows Publisher out the Door

Ann Marie Lipinski, editor of the Chicago Tribune, announced in a memo to staff that she is resigning her post after seven years in the position.

No single reason contributed to her decision, but the position is no longer “the fit it once was,” she wrote (via Forbes).

The news comes just days after the newspaper told staff that 80 newsroom positions will be eliminated, amidst turmoil at parent Tribune Co. Tribune is slashing staff at all of its newspapers, as well as reducing the amount of content it publishes, in an effort to bring editorial and advertising into 50/50 alignment. The company is struggling with an enormous amount of debt taken on when it went private with Sam Zell last year.

Associate editor Gerould W. Kern will replace Lipinski. In a release, Kern said the company’s “long history of innovation in the face of change” will help the paper deal with the changing industry.

The publisher of the Chicago Tribune, Scott C. Smith, announced his resignation in mid-June, saying, “If there’s going to be the next new wave of important changes, it’s important that those decisions be made by people who are going to own the outcomes and that frankly wasn’t my likely time horizon.” In May, the newspaper lost its managing editor of 30 years, George de Lama.