New Editor Appointed at Jerusalem Post
David Horowitz, currently the editor of The Jerusalem Report, will be taking over the reins of the Jerusalem Post from the current editor-in-chief, Bret Stephens, on October 1. Stephens, who has led the paper since 2002, will go back to the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal.
After months of bad news at the paper, media insiders from across the spectrum poured praise on Horowitz and spoke effusively about the future of the beleaguered paper.
“He’s a person whose qualities as a journalist and good judgment as an individual can only help The Jerusalem Post,” said Stuart Schoffman, an associate editor and columnist at The Jerusalem Report. Horowitz, 42, was described as a natural choice for the job, coming from the Hollinger-owned Jerusalem Report. He also worked at The Post from 1983 to 1990, leaving soon after Hollinger purchased the paper. Along with a number of other Post alumni, Horowitz helped found the Jerusalem Report, which, with its centrist politics, gained a reputation as a response to the right-leaning political views of The Post, which Stephens has helped uphold.
In contrast to Stephens, who was criticized for his inexperience and unfamiliarity with Israeli politics, Horowitz is described as the consummate insider. “We’re really going from mediocrity to something golden,” said Joel Leyden, a former senior Internet editor at The Post, who now runs an Israeli marketing firm.
This may be shaken up if Hollinger International eventually sells The Post. A spokeswoman for Hollinger said the “strategic process is ongoing.” There is some pressure on Hollinger’s interim managing team to sell the assets before October 31, when Conrad Black regains his privileges as majority shareholder, of which he was stripped in a June court order.