Timesman named editor of The Record

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The Times building is opposite the Port Authority Bus Terminal, which serves many towns in North Jersey.

Martin Gottlieb, 63, global edition editor of The New York Times, will be taking over as editor of The Record in the new year.


A key figure in the hiring of Gottlieb -- a onetime "cub reporter" at The Record -- appears to be Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg, chairman of North Jersey Media Group, which publishes The Record and Herald News.


The elder Borg has been overshadowed for much of time since his son, Stephen, took over as publisher of The Record in mid-2006. He is quoted in the following account from a blog called Capital New York:

The Record, New Jersey's second-largest daily newspaper, has hired Martin Gottlieb away from The New York Times as its new editor-in-chief.

He replaces longtime former Record editor Frank Scandale, who left the paper rather abruptly in late October. 

The move is something of a homecoming for Gottlieb, a 20-yearTimes veteran who has been the global editions editor since 2008. He worked at The Record back in the early '70s as a cub reporter covering various municipal beats, and has put in time at several other notable newspapers, including a two-year stint as editor of The Village Voice that came to an end in October of 1988. 

“It’s simply wonderful getting Marty back with us after 38 years of distinguishing himself at very high-level editing positions at the IHT, The Times, the Daily News and the Village Voice," Malcolm Borg, chairman of The Record's parent company, North Jersey Media Group, wrote in a statement released to staff. "He knows our market and what The Record stands for: aggressive, honest reporting with the highest ethical standards. Having him back will be a real pleasure.” 

Times executive editor Jill Abramson and managing editors Dean Baquet and John Geddes called Gottlieb "one of our most versatile and imaginative editors but also one of the nicest and most supportive" in a farewell memo to staff. "We have all learned a load about good reporting and clear writing from him. ...The Record is lucky to have an editor with such impeccable news sense."

The Record, with a weekday circulation of 170,000 readers, is still family-owned, as it has been since 1930; the current publisher, Stephen Borg, made the decision to close its Hackensack headquarters in 2008, leaving many reporters without a newsroom. The decision saved an estimated $2.4 million a year in operating costs.

Here is the account by The Associated Press:

 WOODLAND PARK -- The state's second largest daily newspaper, The Record, announced Wednesday the hiring of the global edition editor of The New York Times the last three years as its new top editor. 

Martin Gottlieb replaces Frank Scandale, who left in October after more than 10 years at the helm of the northern New Jersey newspaper. 

North Jersey Media Group, the family-owned company that publishes The Record, said Gottlieb is expected to assume his new job early next year but no firm date has been set. 

Gottlieb has been overseeing the editorial operations of the Paris- and Hong Kong-based International Herald Tribune, the Times' global edition. He previously served as associate managing editor in charge of the Times' newsroom on weekends and was a Times reporter in the early 1980s. 

Gottlieb also was editor of the Village Voice in the mid-1980s and worked at the Daily News from 1974 to 1982, becoming managing editor in 1993 [0f The Times?].

Gottlieb has taught journalism at ... Princeton, Columbia and New York universities. Among the honors he has received is the George Polk Award for an investigative series on the Columbia/HCA Hospital Corp. by a team of Times reporters he led.

Related post

• Good riddance to bad rubbish (eyeontherecord.blogspot.com)
• Borg starts search for new editor (eyeontherecord.blogspot.com)
• Mac Borg settles porn-suit allegations (eyeontherecord.blogspot.com)