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It's been a busy day for personnel moves down at the Times, in Dean Baquet's second week on the job. First the paper gets a new book editor and juggles the design unit, now Lennie LaGuire continues her ascent through the editor ranks on the feature side. Most recently she has been the Entertainment Editor, but she gets a new title—Deputy Features Editor/Entertainment and News—and adds supervision of the daily Calendar section to her portfolio. Betsy Sharkey becomes the Entertainment Editor, in charge of Calendar reporting on Hollywood. Today's memo from Deputy Managing Editor John Montorio follows after the jump:
To: The Staff
From: John Montorio -- Deputy Managing Editor
As I've mentioned to you before, the ongoing improvement of our Feature report also will involve a continuing refinement of the department's editing structure. Today, it's my pleasure to tell you that we're taking the next step in the process by expanding Lennie LaGuire's responsibilities and promoting Betsy Sharkey.
I've asked Lennie to assume oversight of daily Calendar, working closely with Alice Short to build on the section's considerable momentum and to help re-imagine its future. Initially, Lennie will focus on two things: creatively integrating new streams of coverage into the section--notably the work of the Image and SWAT reporting teams; and developing new approaches to showcasing our entertainment, arts, culture and feature writing report not only for Calendar, but also for Page One and the Web.
Obviously, Alice's close collaboration will be critical to this effort, as will that of our yet-to-be-named SWAT team editor, who also will report to Lennie when that appointment occurs. As daily Calendar editor, Alice has built a well-deserved reputation for the breadth of her taste, the sensitivity of her dealings with writers and her collegial relations with fellow editors. Lennie's new role supervising daily Calendar draws on an important set of news and organizational skills honed not only during her tenure as Entertainment Editor, but also as The Times' City Editor and as Editor of our Orange County Edition.
To reflect this expansion of responsibility, Lennie's title will be adjusted to Deputy Features Editor/Entertainment and News.
This opens the way to name Betsy our new Entertainment Editor. In that capacity, she'll continue to report to Lennie, but take over the
day-to-day running of our Hollywood report. Betsy's talent, energy and drive--along with her years of experience navigating the wilds of the entertainment industry--make her the perfect candidate for this job. As Deputy Entertainment Editor, Betsy has overseen a significant growth in the ambition and competitive pace of our film coverage. She's been a guiding force, as we've expanded the staff and established new beats on Hollywood life, Hollywood in the courts and DVDs/home entertainment.
In her new position, Betsy will oversee the worlds of film, television, media and pop music, working with those departments' editors to find innovative ways to distinguish our work. She'll also collaborate with Lennie in developing and editing entertainment stories for Page One. Before she joined The Times as television editor in 1998, Betsy was a nationally recognized entertainment writer, whose work appeared in the New York Times, GQ and TV Guide. She also served as an editor at Ad Week and Media Week.
Both the expansion of Lennie's duties and Betsy's promotion are effective immediately. Please join me in congratulating them.