New York Daily News Editor-in-Chief Colin Myler is resigning, the paper’s president and CEO, Bill Holiber, and owner Mort Zuckerman announced in a staff memo on Friday.
Myler, who has been at the paper since 2012, plans to return to his native London to spend more time with his family. Deputy Editor-in-Chief Jim Rich will take over Myler's position after he departs at the end of the year.
“Colin as we all know is also a master at developing editorial leadership and talent,” Holiber wrote in the memo. “With that said, we are delighted to announce that one of our own, Jim Rich, Colin’s deputy, will become our new Editor in Chief, later in the year, after Colin’s departure.”
Under Myler's leadership, the Daily News increased its coverage of celebrity news and increasingly focused on national issues, which included the paper's campaign for greater gun control. Myler's departure comes on the heels of Zuckerman’s failed attempt to sell the paper.
“He has changed the culture of our newsroom, expanded the Daily News brand to a national level -- in print and digitally -- and overseen the doubling of our website audience,” Zuckerman and Holiber wrote.
Despite an increase in web traffic, the Daily News has experienced a precipitous decline in circulation and ad revenue, like newspapers elsewhere. The paper's subscriber rolls have dipped by more than 10 percent since 2007.
Myler was previously editor of another News Corp publication, the British tabloid News of the World, which was shuttered in 2011 amid a phone-hacking scandal. Several members of News of the World's staff were charged and convicted of various crimes, though Myler was never implicated in the scandal.
