A Trio Of Departures From Newsweek / Daily Beast – And A Slew Of Promotions And Hires [Updated]

A trio of departures from the Daily Beast and Newsweek to report today: In a move he says has been planned for months now, executive editor Edward Felsenthal has left the Daily Beast, telling his staffers that he is off to pursue other opportunities. Earlier today, it was announced that Daily Beast / Newsweek publisher Ray Chelstowski has been relieved of his duties at the media company, effective immediately, and that managing editor Tom Weber has resigned from his role.

In addition, former CBS Interactive executive Eric Danetz will be reportedly joining the company as its senior vice president of sales. Update: Justine Rosenthal is being promoted to executive editor, Newsweek, and Jane Spencer is taking on the role of executive editor, The Daily Beast. Mark Miller is “coming home” to the magazine as director of editorial operations for Newsweek and The Daily Beast after working as editor of The Texas Tribune, and Nathan Geddie will be promoted to associate managing editor.

Rosenthal was formerly editor of The National InterestNewsweek will be this year eschewing its practice of having reporters follow the candidates on the campaign trial. Earlier, Felsenthal had explained the decision by declaring “that sitting on election news” felt “out of place in an era where so much information comes out so fast” via platforms such as Twitter and blogs.

These recent changes at the media company seem, then, to point to a two-pronged issue: 1) Cost-cutting measures and 2) an ongoing search for a new and relevant identity at a time when the manner in which we take in and analyze media and information is changing rapidly. We were, however, told by a representative for the company that “the magazine saw a 10 percent rise in ad pages in October YOY per PIB vs. 2010. Newsstand sales are up 20 percent and our subscription renewals are up 2.6 percent – first time they’ve seen a rise in 5 years, so to say the magazine is struggling to find an identity is not accurate.”

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