The Mirror

HuffPost May Find Its Editor-in-Chief From Within

REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

Betsy Rothstein Gossip blogger
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Many HuffPost staffers woke up to a huge surprise Thursday morning: Arianna Huffington is leaving to focus on her wellness company. Reports indicate that some senior level personnel learned the news Wednesday night.

Suddenly HuffPost needs a new leader. But who?

Nothing really came out of the 11 a.m. meeting in terms of who will be the next EIC. According to HuffPost media writer Michael Calderone‘s live coverage on Twitter, Arianna did admit that she didn’t  get a full night’s sleep last night. She also assured that she’d do what she could to ensure that Donald Trump is not president: “In staff meeting, Arianna said she’ll definitely ‘continue coming up with great and new ideas to make sure’ Donald Trump is not president.” Also this nothingness: “This chapter has closed and another is about to begin,” Arianna tells staff. But this was interesting: “Arianna’s first call today was from [Facebook COO] Sheryl Sandberg who told her, ‘You’re jumping. You’re not hedging. You are going on all in.'”

Let’s get back to who will replace her.

In AOL CEO Tim Armstrong‘s memo, he announced that a search committee is in place to find a new Arianna — not such an easy task.

“We have formed an interim editorial committee (Ryan Grim, Liz Heron, Katie Nelson, Kate Palmer, and Whitney Snyder) that will be stepping in to fill Arianna’s role and they will be involved in an ongoing search for a new Editor-in-Chief of The Huffington Post,” he wrote.

The Mirror has learned that some of those searchers may be among those being considered for the job.

The sense is that Palmer, Heron and Grim are top internal candidates. But an observer isn’t convinced that New York City would work for Grim. “I know they’ll look externally, too,” a source told me. “It’s a huge job that’s never been open, so would think they’ll look for a bit.”

So here are the top candidates so far:

1. Kate Palmer: Editorial Director, Lifestyle. Before that, she was National Editor and Managing Editor. Before HuffPost she was managing editor of The Onion. And before that: Deputy Managing Editor at Washington’s Foreign Policy Mag.

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2. Liz Heron: Executive Editor, HuffPost. Some may recall that in May Heron tweeted a picture of a meeting of HuffPost editors that ruffled some feathers since all the women are white.

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This is Liz:

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3. Last but not least is Ryan Grim: Washington Bureau Chief, HuffPost. Ryan comes from Chestertown, Maryland, a sleepy, quaint town on the banks of Maryland’s Chester River that is approximately three miles. So Manhattan may not be best suited for him, but you never know. He used to work at the Marijuana Policy Project. He’s the author of This Is Your Country on Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America. So maybe instead of sleeping rooms there might be in-house marijuana dens? Best of all: He’s affable even with publications that are contrarian to HuffPost. Word on the street is that he hasn’t ruled the position out.

Here is Ryan:

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