Tom McGeveran has been named interim editor of The New York Observer starting June 1. He will be replacing Peter Kaplan, who announced his departure from the paper a little over a month ago.
“I have a lot of confidence in Tom,” said Jared Kushner, the publisher of The Observer. “I’ve worked closely with Tom for the last few years. He really really is a very special talent. He knows what the next generation of The New York Observer should be.”
“I’m a McGeveran man,” said Mr. Kaplan. “Tom has intellectual depth, he is a deadline journalist, and most of all, he is a New Yorker.”
Mr. McGeveran, who was born in the Bronx and raised on Roosevelt Island, arrived at the paper in 2000 after working at The New York Blade. He has held nearly every job at the paper, after rising from the ranks as a copy editor to become the ‘Manhattan Transfers’ reporter, a commercial real estate reporter, a real estate editor, a media editor, a politics editor, managing editor, deputy editor and editor of observer.com.
“Tom is someone who fundamentally has done every job at this paper,” said Mr. Kaplan, who will be moving to Condé Nast Traveler as the magazine’s Creative Director. “On top of that, beyond that, he understands the news deeply and he has done both long form journalism and breaking news stuff for the web. He has allowed me to exist as an editor because he created a structure that I could exist in. And he is tomorrow’s journalist because he is someone who knows how to merge print and electronic.”
“One thing I admire about Jared Kushner is that he is willing to trust this enterprise enough to continue to fund it when this entire industry is falling apart,” said Mr. McGeveran. “The trust that he puts in me to be the editor of this paper is not just the trust of delivering a fantastic product. This newspaper needs to work to secure its own future, and I want to be a part of that. I want to figure that out. Well, everybody wants to figure that out, but I really want to figure that out.”
Mr. Kushner described the job as an interim job that could be converted into a permanent one.
“I’ve been overwhelmed by the amount of people who have reached out for the opportunity to be editor,” said Mr. Kushner, “and it obviously shows the incredible job Peter has done with this place by making it a force in the journalistic community for the last 15 years.”
Mr. McGeveran will take over the newspaper on Monday. Mr. Kaplan’s last day at The Observer is this Friday.
“Peter’s given me every break I’ve ever had and I love him for it,” said Mr. McGeveran, “and I especially love him for the fact that he is the editor he is and how he’s made this newspaper because it’s the best newspaper in New York.”
