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Michael Kinsley plans to fly back and forth between the two cities when he takes over June 14 as editor of the Los Angeles Times editorial page, op-ed and letters pages and Sunday Opinion section. A staff-written news story in tomorrow's Times acknowledges the arrangement is less than ideal, but it works for Kinsley's new boss, LAT Editor John Carroll.
In his new post, Kinsley will divide his time evenly between Los Angeles and Seattle, where he now lives. Working partly from an office 1,000 miles up the coast from headquarters won't be a stretch for Kinsley, Carroll said, considering the Slate.com founder's experience managing a virtual staff for the online publication.Although he was at first hesitant about the arrangement, "the more I got to know Mike," Carroll said, "I realized he was just about perfect in every other way, so we decided to do this."
Kinsley said that part of the appeal of joining the Times was its venue. "You get to live on the West Coast, which is important for personal reasons, and yet you are working for a national publication," he said.
The New York Times story by Jacques Steinberg says that Kinsley wrested a concession to work alternate weeks in Seattle. Health -- he was diagnosed with Parkinson's a decade ago -- was not a factor, Kinsley said. His wife, Patty Stonesifer, runs the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation there. Meanwhile, in the L.A. Times story, Kinsley calls himself generally "mainstream liberal" but all over the lot on issues.
"I wouldn't say that politically I am left of where the L.A. Times is now," Kinsley said. "There are issues on which I probably will take different positions than the L.A. Times has, but my difference will be in both directions, and who knows where they will average out."
To read Carroll's memo to the staff appointing Kinsley and moving Janet Clayton, the current Editor of the Editorial Pages, to head up the 200-person state and local news staff, see my exclusive post from Wednesday morning.
*Watch this space: For added reaction from around the media and blogosphere:
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Helped solidify Seattle's emergence on the national scene...
AP: Judged National Book Awards out of "vanity and desire for free books" but didn't read them...
Eugene Volokh: I'm quite pleased by this move...
Political Animal: Michael, get rid of the jokey third editorials...
Robert Tagorda: I now have three reasons to read the Los Angeles Times...
RiShawn Biddle: Rather audacious and applaudable...
Patterico: Noted leftist to join Dog Trainer...
Outside the Beltway: What's in this for Kinsley?...
Pandagon: Does this mean there's a position open at Slate?...
Oh, That Liberal Media: The prosecution rests...
Squeaks from the Squirrel Cage: Among the best in the business...
Lonewacko: Second-rate paper in - let's face it - a second-rate town...
Hugh Hewitt: Hire Roger L. Simon..Prager..Morrison.. Estrich..Ingraham..keep Boot..Scheer's got to go.
Virginia Postrel: Brilliant move...
What a little snob that Lonewacko is. If Washington, DC is first rate I would think you'd want to investigate the second rate option. I once told a co-worker of mine who had just returned from a mercifully brief sojourn in Washington that some magazine had rated it (well, presumably the North Virginia metroplex) as the top city in the country. His incredulous reply was "To live in?"
Posted by: Robert Fiore at April 29, 2004 11:55 AMI require easy access to hills and nearby mountains; there are a few interesting areas that do not have that, including the DC area. I don't want to have to drive 100 miles if I want to take a hike that gains as much as going from the Griffith Park Observatory parking lot to the top of Mt. Hollywood.
In any case, I meant "second-rate" only in the political sense. NYC and DC are the political centers of the U.S., L.A. is second-tier in that regard.
Posted by: The Lonewacko Blog at April 29, 2004 12:15 PMPerhaps I am overly sensitive to Mr. Wacko’s acerbic style. Anyway, I think it’s a misreading. Suppose Kinsley had the same job on the New York Times or the Washington Post (we will assume that he’s not eligible for the Wall Street Journal job under any circumstances). If he does a great job he’ll get some credit for it, but it will be limited because those op-ed pages are already prestigious. On the other hand, if he does a great job on the Los Angeles Times editorial section, which has heretofore been noted for dullness if it’s been noted for anything, Kinsley gets all the credit. If he doesn’t succeed, the story becomes “Even the great Michael Kinsley is defeated by the culture of mediocrity at the Los Angeles Time.” It’s a no-lose situation. Anyway, it seems as though a certain element of the blogging community is searching through a roomfull of ponies for a pile of manure.
Posted by: Robert Fiore at April 29, 2004 02:28 PMLAO's coverage of this has been really helpful.
Posted by: Crid at April 30, 2004 05:05 PM
of LA Observed
Is that the best picture of Michael Kinsley they could come up with at the Times?
Posted by: alan hudosh at April 29, 2004 10:06 AM