Editor shifting at LAT

In advance of the top editors going on retreat in the desert to noodle on the future of their newspaper, some juggling ensued in the mid-level lineup at the Los Angeles Times. New honchos in Orange County, an editor for Washington and another religion writer leaves the beat. Memo follows; after the desert strategy sessions, the biggest wigs will head out (to China, I'm told) for a gathering of foreign correspondents.

We are pleased to announce several editing changes in some important coverage areas.

In summary:

--Bill Loving, currently a senior Business editor, will move to the editing desk in the Washington Bureau.
--Pat McMahon, editor of the Orange County edition, will join the Business section as weekend editor, overseeing the Sunday and Monday sections.
--Orange County City Editor Steve Marble will become Orange County/Regional editor.
--Reporter Bill Lobdell will replace Steve as Orange County City editor.

Here are postings describing each of the moves more completely:

Bill Loving will join the Washington bureau this summer.

He has been senior assistant business editor/weekend since 2002, planning, supervising and editing the Sunday and Monday business sections. He joined the paper in 1998 as technology editor.

Bill came to the paper from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, where he spent 11 years in various editing jobs, including assistant business editor, assistant city editor and technology editor. In his last job at the Star Tribune, he was director of computer-assisted reporting for the news staff.

Earlier in his career, Bill did time at the Providence Journal-Bulletin and the Bridgeport (Conn.) Post-Telegram.

He was supervising editor of an award-winning Star Tribune investigation of Minnesota's foster homes and participated in another project, a computer-assisted investigation into arson and insurance fraud, that won the paper the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting.

Bill has a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Minnesota. He and his wife, Rhonda Hillbery, a writer, have two children, ages 14 and 12.

--

Pat McMahon, editor of our Orange County edition, will join the Business section as weekend editor, where he will oversee the Sunday and Monday sections.

This marks Pat's second tour of duty in the Business section. He previously served as an assistant business editor and acting deputy business editor during the Marty Baron Administration, from 1986 to 1989.

Pat edited some terrific consumer-oriented stories during that period, such as an A1 story on what was behind the boom in lemon-scented household products (Jube Shiver, 1987), how bar codes changed what retailers sold in stores (Martha Groves, 1989) and a fascinating look at Coppertone's search for the ultimate tan (Denise Gellene, 1999).

Pat has had a number of assignments at the Times in his 14 years here. Before Orange County, he was a deputy editor in Metro, California political editor, and city editor and managing editor during his first tour of duty in OC.

Pat's tenure at the Times was interrupted for seven years in the late 1990s, when he went to USA Today as a regional reporter based in Seattle. Before joining The Times in 1986, Pat spent 12 years at the St. Petersburg Times, where he was a reporter, assistant city editor, executive business editor and Washington bureau chief. Before that, he worked at Congressional Quarterly and the National Journal. He has a bachelor's degree from Stanford.

During his time as Orange County edition editor, Pat emphasized smart full-run stories and made key hires to improve coverage. We expect the trend to continue under new edition editor Steve Marble and City Editor Bill Lobdell. Both are widely admired by colleagues and proven leaders who have worked well together for several years.

Marble will head a staff of more than 20 reporters and editors. Steve first came to the Times Orange County Edition in 2000 as an assistant city editor, and was promoted to city editor in 2004.

He is a veteran of the Orange County news scene, having lived and worked in OC for more than two decades. In his pre-OC Edition days, Steve was managing editor of Times Community News. Previously, he held> editing and reporting positions at the Daily Pilot, a Times-owned newspaper that covers Newport Beach and Costa Mesa.

Steve is a journalism graduate of San Diego State University.

Lobdell has covered the local/national religion beat with distinction for several years. As city editor, one of Bill's roles will be to increase Orange County's ties to the latimes.com website.

Bill has been a finalist for national religion writer of the year three of the past four years. His story, "Missionary's Dark Legacy," about the effects of abuse in two remote Eskimo villages 30 years ago, is in the running for national religion story of the year.

Before arriving in the Orange County newsroom in 2000, Bill spent a decade as editor of Times Community News, a group of daily and weekly local papers owned by the Times that at its peak employed more than 200 staff.

In his former life, Bill launched two magazines, was an LA Times copy boy and toiled four summers at Huntington Beach as a lifeguard

He holds a BA in political science from UC Irvine, where he currently teaches courses on the media.

The changes in Orange County are effective immediately; Pat's last day in OC is May 12, as he takes some well-earned time off before joining Business.

Please join us in congrtulating all on their moves!

--Russ Stanton, Business editor; Scott Kraft, National Editor; Doyle McManus, Washington Bureau chief; Janet Clayton, Assistant Managing Editor.