CNN
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Noah Shachtman, the hard-charging editor with a knack for scrutinizing the wealthy and highly effective, introduced Friday that he is resigning from his publish as editor-in-chief of Rolling Stone, following discussions with the enduring music and tradition journal’s high boss concerning the publication’s path.
Shachtman, who will formally step down on March 1, stated in a press release that he was “so proud” of all the pieces he and his workforce have completed over his two-and-a-half-year tenure, however signaled that he had variations with Rolling Stone chief govt Gus Wenner.
“Tradition-shaping scoops and profiles, a Nationwide Journal Award, an Emmy nomination, greater than two billion views within the final 12 months alone, and, most significantly, the assembling of a genuinely exceptional workforce,” Shachtman stated, itemizing the publication’s latest accomplishments.
In a be aware to employees, Wenner thanked Shachtman and stated that he’ll start a seek for a brand new editor within the coming weeks. However he burdened that he’s “in no rush” and that the “workforce we’ve in place is phenomenal.” Wenner stated that throughout the interim interval, Sean Woods, deputy editor, and Lisa Tozzi, digital director, will “take over day-to-day editorial management.”
“I’ve an unimaginable quantity of confidence and belief in our total workforce and couldn’t be extra excited concerning the subsequent chapter in Rolling Stone’s evolution,” Wenner stated in his memo.
Shachtman added that whereas he was stepping down as editor, he could be a contributing author for the journal.
“I’ll even be writing for different retailers whereas I work on a start-up mission,” he stated.
When he took the reins of the journal in 2021, Shachtman, the previous editor of The Each day Beast, spoke overtly about his want to alter the venerable outlet’s tradition to meet up with the digital age, successfully drawing on the playbook that he executed at The Each day Beast to make the legacy journal related once more. To that finish, he poached a number of staffers from the punchy digital outlet he beforehand led and widened the journal’s aperture to cowl extra politics-related tales.
Shachtman additionally emphasised that underneath his stewardship, Rolling Stone wouldn’t be afraid to take intention at a few of music’s greatest names.
“The brand new Rolling Stone goes to confront monsters,” Shachtman stated on the time, “even — particularly — if it means confronting monsters the journal helped elevate.”
Wenner’s father, Jann, a co-founder of Rolling Stone, confronted condemnation final 12 months after making feedback to The New York Occasions that have been broadly denounced as sexist and racist. The scandal in the end led to Jann being removed from the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame. On the time, Rolling Stone described the feedback as “offensive” and Shachtman published a piece analyzing the journal’s historical past.