There had been speculation that Marjorie Miller might leave the Los Angeles Times after stepping down in June as Foreign Editor, but instead she's moving downstairs to be an editorial writer and special Op-Ed correspondent. The memo from Jim Newton, editor of the editorial pages.

From: Newton, Jim
Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2008 10:43 AM
Subject: marjorie miller

Colleagues,

I’m pleased to announce that Marjorie Miller, one of this newspaper’s great reporters and editors, has agreed to join the Opinion staff as an editorial writer and special Op Ed correspondent.

Marjorie’s resume is too heavy to lift, but you all know her best as the foreign editor whose tenure included some of the most important and honored work by The Times in recent years. To cite just a few stories she directed: the Iraq war, the Palestinian Intifada, the Lebanon War, the South Asian tsunami and the death of Pope John Paul II. Under her leadership, The Times won numerous awards for its foreign coverage, including the Pulitzer Prize won by Kim Murphy in 2005. Before taking on the job of foreign editor in 2002, Marjorie worked as a bureau chief in London, Jerusalem, Bonn, Mexico City and San Salvador.

Obviously, then, Marjorie’s move to Opinion deepens our expertise in foreign affairs and complements our strong writing team on the editorial board. Moreover, as Sue Horton tries out new features and ideas on the Op Ed page, Marjorie will bring writing and planning heft to that part of our work as well. Her appointment thus helps with our attempt to bring more coherence to our opinion writing across the editorial and Op Ed pages, a project that Nick Goldberg is spearheading.

Finally, it’s just a pleasure to bring to our department someone who is both a superb journalist and a good friend. I couldn’t be happier. I hope you’ll all join me in congratulating Marjorie on her new post.

Best,
Jim

Previously:
New foreign editor at L.A. Times