Grantland reports that Grantland is losing culture editor Lane Brown, who will return to New York Magazine in January to edit the culture there.
Adam Moss, editor-in-chief of New York, passed on the news in a memo earlier this hour:
Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2011 2:05 PM
Subject: A Message from Adam MossI am very happy to announce that there will soon be a new Culture Editor at New York, and it is…Lane Brown. Lane is presently the culture editor of Grantland, but of course we know him for his long association with Vulture, as one of its founders—first as a blogger, then as an editor. Ben wrote a lovely goodbye note about him at the time he left. The gist was this: Lane gave Vulture its original voice; defined its enthusiasms; created acres of smart, often funny cultural commentary. But I don't have to tell you that. Lane is a huge talent. He was missed. We're thrilled to have him back.
His new job should not be mistaken for his old job. The Culture Pages are a different animal than Vulture, and we will not be trying to Vulture-ize our print coverage. Lane will take his gifts, which are protean, and apply them to the particular brief of the magazine's culture coverage. That said, it will obviously be a huge advantage to have a print culture editor who is so intimately familiar with our digital cultural apparatus. We have such abundant talent on the culture team of both media-critics, bloggers, reporters, editors etc —that there are huge gains to be had from a more seamless operation. Not a merger, more a joint operating agreement.
Lane begins the second week in January. Before he does, I just want to give a giant thank you to Carl, who has been a superb acting culture editor for these last months. Carl was hitting a great stride as a magazine staff writer (Justin Bond, the South Park boys) when I coerced him into filling in while we did our search. The search took longer than intended, and he patiently waited us out. In January, he can resume writing; we have a pile of ideas waiting. I also want to thank the terrifically talented Chris Bonanos for being the rock of the department through all this transition, expertly managing the highbrowier side of things, while still managing to guide other coverage in the magazine and even write a book! So much to be thankful for.
Adam
Grantland has much to be thankful for, too: the site recently picked up the proprietor of the @fakegrantland Twitter account, Jared Bloom. Bloom will write a monthly column spoofing the real Grantland's editorial choices.
Goodbye Lane Brown! [Grantland]