Lundy Named Editor of Philadelphia Inquirer

Former Arkansas Gazette Editor Walker Lundy has been named editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer, historically considered one of the nation’s best newspapers.

Lundy replaces Robert J. Rosenthal, who resigned Nov. 6 amid staff cutbacks ordered by owner Knight Ridder and disagreements over how to attract readers. Lundy was previously editor of Knight Ridder’s Saint Paul Pioneer Press in Minnesota.

Rosenthal said “there was a difference of opinion on some strategies” and it became difficult for him to lead the newsroom.

“He steps into a job where the previous guy left because he disagreed with his bosses,” said Max Brantley, editor of Arkansas Times magazine, a Little Rock weekly. “Lundy won’t disagree with his bosses, and if it makes his staff hurt, then his staff will hurt.”

Brantley worked for Lundy at the Arkansas Gazette, which Gannett Co. closed in 1991 before selling its name and assets to the Arkansas Democrat.

Lundy was seen by many as the henchman who oversaw the Gannettization of the Gazette, which led to the demise of the oldest newspaper west of the Mississippi River. Gannett reassigned Lundy to another newspaper after opposition to his management style grew at the Gazette. Last year, however, the controversial Lundy led the Pioneer Press to a Pulitzer Prize for beat reporting.

Brantley said Lundy was a typical Gannett editor who hated government reporting but loved television, movies, sports and heroes.

“One of the first things he said when he got to Little Rock was, ‘I love to fire people.'”

We’ll go ahead and say goodbye to the glory years of the Inquirer now.