Rick Berke Departs The New York Times for Politico
Rick Berke, a veteran New York Times political reporter who's been with the paper since 1986, will be the new executive editor at Politico. This is, as Politico editor-in-chief Jim Harris pointed out in a memo to staff, "great news for Politico." Berke started out at The Times as a national correspondent and worked his way up to managerial positions. He currently leads video content for the Times.
Harris explained that he was looking for a "Rick Berke-type" to replace Jim Vandehei, who was recently promoted to be president and CEO of Politico and Capital New York. Well, he succeeded. Harris offers some insight as to why Berke's making the move: "One, as a political junkie, he is a deep admirer of the publication all of us have helped build. Two, what intrigued him most about the possibility of joining us was joining a growing operation that already has a great team."
RELATED: Jill Abramson Hits Back at Her Detractors
Jill Abramson, the executive editor of the Times, wrote in a memo to staff,
He's been a newsroom treasure in so many important roles here and he's also been a great colleague and friend to so many of us. I don't have to tell any of you what a gifted editor he is and having competed against him in the old days, he is one fabulous political reporter.
Berke has covered four presidential campaigns as a reporter.
Here's another Times staffer response:
Buddy at @Politico asked what I thought of @rickberke. Response: I LOVE RICK BERKE AND YOU HAVE TAKEN HIM AWAY FROM US YOU BASTARDS.
— John Schwartz -- NYT (@jswatz) October 24, 2013
In his story about the move for The Times, Brian Stelter connected Berke's departure to other recent notable Times departures:
Mr. Berke’s departure is one in a series of moves by Times staff members to digital media outfits this year. Nate Silver, whose FiveThirtyEight blog was licensed by The Times in 2010, joined ESPN last summer; Howard Beck, an N.B.A. beat reporter, joined Bleacher Report last month and David Pogue, the longtime technology columnist, announced earlier this week that he is joining Yahoo.
This article was originally published at http://www.theatlanticwire.com/business/2013/10/rick-berke-departs-new-york-times-politico/70900/
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