New Back Stage Boss

Julia Kagan, an award-winning magazine veteran whose last two jobs were at the helms of Consumer Reports and the Zagat Survey, has been named National Editor-in-Chief of Back Stage and Back Stage West—a new position created to oversee both publications and BackStage.com. This strikes me as good news for the consumers of both papers, and for Back Stage West in particular, whose consumers seem to be voting with their feet: Circulation as of last October stood at 9,073 (it was 11,327 in October, 2002—a figure I wasn't happy with at the time, when I was at BSW, and which I hoped to increase).

Full disclosure: I did apply for this new position. But I can see why they went with a seasoned publishing figure. Until recently Kagan served as Vice President of Content for Zagat Survey. She was hired by Zagat in December, 2003, after an abrupt dismissal from the position of Editorial Director at Consumer Reports. As the New York Times reported in September, 2003 (roughly the same month I left BSW):

Joel Gurin, executive vice president of Consumers Union, said that its increasingly important Web presence—consumerreports.org, the Web site, has 1.2 million paying customers while the magazine, which carries no advertising, has 4 million subscribers—required editors with different skills.

"Historically, we have been magazine publishers," Mr. Gurin said. "What has really changed is the growth of the electronic business"...

...Mr. Gurin's memorandum announcing the changes left some employees worried that management's apparent desire for a closer relationship between the business and editorial sides could hurt a brand that defines consumer trust.

"Editorial must be an active, expert partner with publishing in shaping the business strategy for out (sic) publications," the memorandum read.

If Kagan stands for the opposing view—roughly, that editorial's only "client" is the reader and that only a "brand" that serves a legion of loyal readers will be worth a single advertising dollar—then she has my vote of confidence.