It’s time to quite literally grieve.
Editor Tim Grieve is leaving National Journal.
As fate would have it, Dan Berman, the publication’s assistant managing editor, is also leaving the company.
Sources in the know assure me nothing sinister went down. But another media insider tells me Grieve and Berman worked closely together at the outlet’s archenemy, Politico. So it’s kind of curious that both men would bolt simultaneously.
Grieve is off to The McClatchy Company, where he will be Head of News Strategies. His last day with the company is Oct. 2. Grieve has been with National Journal for two and a half years. He came to the publication from Politico. Berman, meanwhile, is going to work for CNN. According to a CNN memo, Berman played a “crucial role” in leading the National Journal newsroom. His new job as enterprise editor at CNN starts Sept. 21.
National Journal is naturally already on a manhunt for a new editor.
But in the meantime, Tom Shoop, editor-in-chief of Atlantic Media Government Executive Media Group, will swoop in and take over until they find a more permanent replacement for Grieve.
See the respective memos below.
Grieve’s public memo to the newsroom was short, sweet and sort of emotional:
Hey, I know we’ll have plenty of time to say goodbye in the coming days, but I want to take a quick minute now to say thank you – thank you to David Bradley for giving me the opportunity to lead National Journal, and thank you to all of you for making it such a great experience.
It’s been an absolute thrill and honor to work with you, and I’m so proud of the journalism we produced together. Even more than that, I’m proud of the newsroom we built – a newsroom full of people who care about and support each other at every turn. I hope you’re all proud of the role you’ve played in that. You should be.
So thank you – for that, and for everything. I’m excited about the road ahead for me, but I’m really, really going to miss working with you.
And here is the memo from National Journal CEO Tim Hartmann:
I am writing with some bittersweet news: Tim Grieve has been offered and has accepted a new position with the McClatchy Company as Head of News Strategies, working on digital expansion for the company’s more than two dozen newspapers and news sites around the country, including the Miami Herald and the Sacramento Bee, where Tim began his journalism career. As you can imagine, this is a great opportunity for Tim as he takes his expertise in digital media to the national stage.
The search for Tim’s replacement is already underway. In the interim, we are fortunate to have in our ranks at Atlantic Media, Tom Shoop, Editor in Chief for Government Executive Media Group, who has agreed to step in on an interim basis to support and manage the newsroom. He and the eventual new editor will continue to work with you towards producing the most robust, in-depth, important and interesting coverage and analysis of politics and the 2016 race, policy, and Congress.
For those of you who haven’t yet worked with Tom, he’s been running editorial operations for Government Executive, GovExec.com, Nextgov and more recently was a key player in the creation and launch of Defense One and Route Fifty. While Tim’s last day isn’t until October 2, the plan is to make this transition as seamless as possible. Starting next week, Tom is going to be spending more time on the fourth floor, where he can be more fully embedded and working closely with Tim, Ben Pershing and the other editors and with each of you in the newsroom.
Tim isn’t leaving quite yet, so there will be plenty of time to properly celebrate him before he leaves for his next assignment. But I do want to take this opportunity to acknowledge his leadership and overall contributions to National Journal during the last two and a half years. He transformed the newsroom and with you made the National Journal brand more relevant in Washington and beyond.
With this, I hope you will join me in congratulating Tim and welcoming Tom to National Journal.
Tim