The Baltimore Sun’s parent company, Tribune Publishing, announced new leadership last week. The move already resulted in a change at the local level.
Last week, Tribune Publishing board chairman and Chicago tech entrepreneur Michael Ferro orchestrated the ouster of Jack Griffin in the midst of his second year as CEO. Ferro then installed his longtime associate Justin Dearborn as CEO.
On Wednesday, Ferro announced a new move to combine the top leadership roles into one job at eight of the company’s top papers, including the Sun. With the shakeup, top Baltimore Sun Media Group editor Trif Alatzas is now editor-in-chief and publisher of the Baltimore Sun Media Group. Along with overseeing editorial for the Sun and the other local Maryland papers it owns, the dual title puts Alatzas in charge of operations and the business side of the papers.
Despite speculation that he could be on the way out, former Sun publisher Tim Ryan also got a promotion. He is now President of Publishing at Tribune, tasked with overseeing the editors-in-chief/publishers and reporting directly to Dearborn. Ryan was named publisher at the Los Angeles Times and San Diego Union-Trbune in the fall following the firing of former LA Times publisher Austin Beutner.
“Working once again with Tim Ryan, we will continue to ensure that we meet our local-market and company business objectives,” Alatzas said in a Wednesday e-mail to staff that was reprinted by the Sun.
The last person without a chair as this particular tune ends is Richard J. “Rick” Daniels, who was just named as Ryan’s replacement as publisher in January.
