Mediaite’s Magazine Editor Of The Year: Newsweek‘s Jon Meacham

The year 2009 was a remarkably troubled year for magazine publishing — filled with lay-offs, declining ad revenue, and serious questions about the viability of the medium as a whole. Yet, in this sea of bad news, a few titles were able to eke out some positive attention and influence over the field — thanks, in part, to the vision and leadership of their editors. Who among them did we find to do his or her job the best? Jon Meacham, Editor-in-chief for Newsweek. His runner-up and reader poll winner after the jump.

Editor of the Year: Jon Meacham

Newsweek did the unthinkable. And its not that they re-invented their magazine by layout, design and mission. No, they decided to aim for a smarter audience instead of appealing to the lowest common denominator. And for that alone, Jon Meacham deserves certain laurels from his media brethren. Don’t get us wrong – there are still significant questions about the long-term viability of the magazine; some have even said that it won’t survive the next year. It is true that the magazine has lost money this year, but their quarterly losses are trending in the right direction: from an estimated $20MM in Q1, to $5MM in Q2, to $4MM in Q3.

But Meacham deserves this honor for reasons more important to the bottom line. Of course, he’s spent most of the year at the top of the Magazine Editor’s category in the Power Grid. And why? Because nobody has more consistently nailed the national zeitgest better than Meacham and his team of editors — special shouts-out goes to Ted Moncreiff and Bonnie Siegler, two incredibly important deputies to Meacham who had major hands in the editorial and visual reimagining of Newsweek.

Runner-up: Robbie Myers

Industry insiders claim that there was one magazine party that actually was incredibly festive because there was reason to celebrate: the year-end party for Elle. And what was the reason? For the first time ever, Elle sold more total ad pages than its competitor Vogue. Of course, it’s worth noting that ad pages in Elle come at a much more affordable rate than Vogue, but good news in this economic climate is to be cherished and celebrated, so cherish and celbrate we will.

Much of the success at Elle can be attributed to the smart savvy and industry respect of Robbie Myers, its editor-in-chief. Its super hot creative direction led by Joe Zee is complimented perfectly by its super-smart entertainment coverage, which consistently features writing that rivals any other magazine out there. But it’s also about buzz — lately, it’s become hard to watch a television talk show without seeing an Elle employee. Also, their Women In Hollywood event didn’t just garner great attention, but it practically got Alec Baldwin the gig to host the Oscars. Congrats to Ms. Myers for having a great 2009.

Reader’s Choice: Jess Cagle

Mediate held an online poll for Magazine Editor of the year and our reader’s spoke loudly – Jess Cagle was the winner going away. Why does he deserve this laurel?

Weekly magazines have a particularly hard time keeping up in the Internet age. Editorial staffs have to work harder and think far more analytically than the staffs at monthly magazines just to compete with blogs who cover the same terrain. Jess Cagle took over a shaky ship, amidst rumors of Entertainment Weekly‘s imminent demise, and not only killed off those rumors, but re-invigorated an editorial product that has regained much of its enthusiasm and energy from yesteryear. Of course, its worth noting that reader polls often measure the enthusiasm behind an individual nominated, but judging by the voter turnout, it appears that the Entertainment Weekly staff is firmly behind Cagle’s leadership. And that spells good times ahead for EW.

Special Mention – Of course there are many other editorial stars that deserve special mention for navigating their respective titles through a particularly stormy sea that was 2009. Judged purely on consistent editorial product, it’s hard to top The New Yorker‘s David Remnick . Rick Stengel of Time has reinvigorated that weekly title as well. New York‘s Adam Moss always merits inclusion in these lists because, well, he’s Adam Moss and he does an amazing job week in and week out. Representing the little guy, Backpacker‘s EIC Jon Dorn has deservedly received numerous plaudits from his publishing peers this year as well. Ruth Reichel deserves notice, but for sad reasons, but she has never received more love and support than when Gourmet was shuttered.

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