The editor of Philadelphia's largest newspaper will step down at the end of the year as the company's new owners seek contract concessions, including deep newsroom cuts, in response to falling circulation and advertising revenue. Philadelphia Inquirer editor Amanda Bennett will be replaced by Bill Marimow, a former Baltimore Sun editor and Inquirer city editor who is now ombudsman at National Public Radio, the paper announced Wednesday.| Which will leave the Inquirer a predictably liberal paper with no flavor except for a slightly bitter aftertaste. |
Bennett came to the Inquirer, then owned by Knight-Ridder Inc., as editor in June 2003. The paper's first female editor, she previously was editor of the Lexington Herald-Leader in Kentucky and was a longtime reporter for The Wall Street Journal. Asked by staffers how long she intended to stay, Bennett, 53, said at the time of her hiring that she intended to retire from the Inquirer. "Bill Marimow is a fine journalist, and an old friend. The paper is in good hands," Bennett said in a statement.