Report: Jon Meacham Leaving Newsweek After Sale To Harman

Earlier today, word broke that Sidney Harman is buying Newsweek from the Washington Post Company. Now, several outlets — including Politico’s Mike Allen and the New York Post’s Keith J. Kelly — are reporting that the magazine’s editor, Jon Meacham, will be leaving after the sale, presumably freeing up the most influential magazine editor and best-selling author to focus on his new PBS program, Need To Know.

According to Allen, Meacham will announce his departure at the same time the Washington Post Company announces the deal with Harman. The announcement is said to be sometime today.

Allen writes that Meacham had planned on leaving regardless of who bought the magazine.

From the Post:

“Meacham has told [Harman] he should look for a new editor and is ready to leave when one is found,” said a source close to the situation.

Newsweek CEO Tom Aschiem, “who hatched the failed plan to re-invent the newsweekly,” will likely stay, according to the report.

Meacham, who is the no. 1 rated magazine editor on our Power Grid, won a Pulitzer Prize last year for American Lion, a biography of President Andrew Jackson, and is also a noted political essayist.

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