Jim Willse

After a 15 year run, Star-Ledger editor Jim Willse will retire, his paper reports.

Willse, 65, will be replaced by Managing Editor Kevin Whitmer, 42, a colleague of Willse’s from his days leading the Daily News.  Whitmer has been at the Ledger since 1996.  

Willse, who succeeded Mort Pye in 1995 to head up the state's largest newspaper, told the Ledger’s staff at a meeting this afternoon that he plans to travel for a few months before starting as a visiting professor at Princeton University, where he'll teach a seminar on the business of news.

The paper won two Pulitzers under Willse, most recently in 2005 for its coverage of former Gov. Jim McGreevey's 2004 resignation.  

There is some speculation in Star-Ledger circles that Tom Moran, the former columnist who is returning to his old job after an eighteen-month stint working corporate communications for PSE&G, is being groomed for higher office.  The word is that Moran is the crowned prince of the editorial page, and will become the Star-Ledger's soul after the aged John Farmer retires.  Farmer, a veteran reporter and columnist, began writing editorials after Fran Dauth took her buyout package last year.  Moran has some experience writing editorials, and the word is that's who editor Jim Willse wants.

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In an interview with the American Journalism Review, Star-Ledger editor Jim Willse says he's not sure he'll replace Washington,D.C.-based reporters Scott Orr and Robert Cohen, who both took buyouts. 

"Frankly, the delegation doesn't produce enough news to keep two reporters busy," Willse told AJR editor Jennifer Dorroh about the fifteen New Jerseyans who serve in Congress.

Here's the New Jersey section in the AJR story:

Rob Tornoe's August 2008 cartoon

The Star-Ledger has reassigned reporter Jason Jett and Assistant Deputy Photo Editor Mitchell Seidel to the mailroom, according to Joe Strupp's report in Editor & Publisher.  Strupp's sources say that the two  have been filing, sorting, and delivering mail for more than a week.  Jett and Seidel did not seek a buyout.  "Editor Jim Willse declined to comment on the mailroom assignment, while other staffers confirmed the move and revealed their surprise but requested anonymity," Strupp wrote.

The Star-Ledger said that they have accepted 151 newsroom buyout offers and will continue with 40% less staff by the end of the year. Seventeen buyout requests were turned down. Publisher George Arwady, who gets credit for saving the state's largest newspaper, said that the departues will be staggered. In an e-mail to employees, Editor Jim Willse said his new challenge is to "figure out a way to make a good newspaper with a 40% smaller staff."

Governor Corzine’s new communications director, Deborah Howlett, took some time during her brief hiatus to answer our questions about her new role, the job offer and her transition from reporter to public servant. The Q&A conversation was on the record, but is not a verbatim transcript of the interview.

How do you go from aggressively covering the governor to aggressively defending the governor?

First of all, if his communications staff is defending him, there’s a problem. What he’s trying to do shouldn’t need defending.

And that’s not why he hired me.

Sources at the Star-Ledger say that publisher Jim Willse has decided that all reporters should carry digital cameras and will be required to capture still shots and video while they are covering stories. The sources say some of the reporters are not happy to have the new photographer responsibilities added to their work load.