I missed that during my trip in Switzerland: "Steve Coll, the managing editor of The Washington Post for the last six years and the apparent front-runner to succeed the newspaper's top editor, announced abruptly yesterday that he would step down at the end of the year to divide his time between writing books and writing articles for The Post. While Mr. Coll, 45, had informed the executive editor, Leonard Downie Jr., of his intentions over lunch on June 16, his decision was announced to the newsroom in an e-mail message that caught many off guard... Mr. Downie, who is 62 and has been executive editor since 1991, said he faced no mandatory retirement age and had no plans to retire. He said that the choice of Mr. Coll's successor would be his alone, but that he would consult with Donald E. Graham, the chairman and chief executive at the Washington Post Company, and with Boisfeuillet Jones Jr., the paper's publisher and chief executive, among others." Morale of this story: when your boss is 62 and you are only 45, sometimes you don't want to wait too long! it is also true that the Wapo is loosing readers - a drop of around 3% in one year -, more than its main competitor, the New York Times.

Source: New York Times