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Broadcast News

Barbara Cochran , CBS' Washington bureau chief for the past six years, becomes executive producer for political coverage. A former executive producer of NBC 's "Meet the Press," Cochran will be responsible for all aspects of covering the 1996 presidential campaign. Her successor is Al Ortiz , currently CBS' London bureau chief.... Jacqueline Leo , director of magazine and media development for the New York Times Co., is the new editorial director of ABC 's "Good Morning America.".. In other ABC news, Robin Sproul , former vice president of news coverage for the network's Washington bureau and Washington bureau chief of ABC News Radio, is named Washington bureau chief. Sproul had been acting bureau chief since 1993.

Landing on Her Feet

Former Houston Post Washington bureau chief and onetime AJR cover girl Kathy Kiely rebounds from the Post's closing on April 18 to become Washington bureau chief of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette . Kiely says she is excited about covering a presidential campaign with a hometown candidate. "I couldn't imagine a better perch to be in for the upcoming excitement," she says. But then again Kiely, who was at the Houston Post during President Bush's term, seems to have a knack for being in the right place at the right time. "I'm lucky in that I think there is a little more movement in the market than when our friends at the Dallas Times Herald were let go [in 1991]," she says. "I think it was a great stroke of luck to land this job because fun jobs are at a premium."

Merger Mania

The morning Indianapolis Star and afternoon Indianapolis News are merging their staffs come the fall, although they'll maintain separate editorial page staffs and columnists. No layoffs are anticipated at the Pulliam family-owned papers. And a newsroom committee is examining whether Pulliam's Arizona Republic and Phoenix Gazette should combine their staffs... Baltimore's Evening Sun , home to H.L. Mencken among many others in its 85-year history, publishes its last issue in September. The good news is that the morning Sun will launch a completely redesigned paper that promises expanded coverage. The Baltimore papers had merged their staffs three years ago; about 50 jobs are to be trimmed. Jon Franklin , a two-time Pulitzer winner during his 15-year tenure at the Evening Sun, admits that his first reaction to the news that his alma mater would soon be history was to laugh, because everyone had been expecting the news for so long. The University of Oregon journalism professor likens working at the Evening Sun to serving in an infantry battalion: "They decommission it, and you feel bad, even though you never really enjoyed getting shot at."

Around Newspapers

Baltimore's Sun makes it official: Associate Managing Editor William K. Marimow is now managing editor. Marimow, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner at the Philadelphia Inquirer , essentially functioned as the Sun's ME while the position was vacant for the past two years... Investigative Reporters and Editors President Deborah Nelson leaves the Chicago Sun-Times to join the Seattle Times .... The Allentown, Pennsylvania, Morning Call names Roger Oglesby editor and vice president.... The Philadelphia Daily News picks Morris Thompson , a former assistant city editor for the Detroit News , as its new editorial page editor.... Fresno Bee ombudsman Lynne Enders Glaser is elected president of the Organization of News Ombudsman.... New York's Daily News announces the debut of El Daily News , a bilingual daily. Albor Ruiz , previously a Daily News editorial page writer, will be the editor of the new tabloid.

On the Infobahn

Wall Street Journal new media critic Stefanie Syman teams up with Steven Johnson , a technology columnist for London's Guardian , to launch Feed , a new online cyber-magazine described as " The New Yorker meets Wired meets The New Republic ." Feed will combine hypertext technology with traditional print concepts (remember them?), and will provide original content on a variety of high-tech and low-tech issues. "We're trying to combat the lowest common denominator mentality that dominates much of the Web," says Johnson, who will be Feed's editor in chief... Another new magazine about the online world looms, but Virtual City will be available on old-fashioned newsstands as opposed to electronic newsstands. The publication, brought to you by Newsweek and Virtual Communications , wants to make cyberspace accessible to everyone via features on new computer products and personalities, as well as through product and service listings and reviews... The Jersey Journal of Jersey City launches an experimental electronic newsletter to serve the local Indian American community. The India Journal , a free newsletter to be published five days a week, will provide news from South Asia as well as local Indian news, and will serve as the Jersey Journal's pilot project in developing personalized newsletters targeted at specific local communities. So far, the newsletter has been delivered by broadcast signal to laser printers in two Jersey City grocery stores.

Around Magazines

Sometimes it seems as if you can't pick up a magazine or turn on the TV without running into Roger Rosenblatt . Well, the Ubiquitous One should have even more time for writings and musings as he steps down as editor in chief of the Columbia Journalism Review . He says he had made an agreement with Publisher Joan Konner to head the magazine for 18 months, and now his term is up. Suzanne Braun Levine , whose title was CJR editor pre-Rosenblatt and during Rosenblatt, remains CJR editor.... Esquire 's former editor in chief, Lee Eisenberg , leaves the school reform think tank he helped form three years ago in Knoxville, Tennessee, for the bright lights of New York and Time magazine. He'll run Time's spinoff projects, such as CD-ROMs, online services and possibly a new "magazine within the magazine" that will focus on information technology. Eisenberg was Esquire's top man for 18 months in 1976 and 1977, and again from 1984 to 1991, when he left to start the British Esquire. He has a non-Infobahn background, but doesn't see this as a problem. He says he doesn't purport to be a techie, but at the same time he hasn't been brought kicking and screaming into the electronic age. ( Reported by Stephen Sobek )... Robert Sam Anson , a former contributing editor to Esquire and the author of several books, is named editor of Los Angeles Magazine .

Back to the Land

Reporter Keith Schneider leaves the New York Times to become a full time advocate for environmental causes. He launches the Michigan Land Use Institute, a nonprofit organization based in Thompsonville, Michigan, that will grapple with the question of how to simultaneously sustain flourishing economies and flourishing environments. Schneider, 39, drew attention (and flak) for his revisionist reporting in which he downplayed the dangers of such presumed environmental hazards as dioxin (see "See No Evil," June 1993). Schneider says he'll continue to write – for the institute's newspaper, the Great Lakes Bulletin – but adds, "I'll miss the sense that a Times reporter has about the paper's role in society as an arbiter and authority. and of course I'll miss the expense account."

Carters in the News

Former President Jimmy Carter joins the roster of New York Times Syndicate columnists. Carter will write about global issues and his own initiatives, and will answer questions from readers as well. The column will appear biweekly, and will alternate between a Q&A format and an essay-style column... The University of Maryland College of Journalism names Hodding Carter III , veteran journalist and State Department spokes-man in the administration of the aforementioned Jimmy, to its new Knight Chair. In addition to teaching, Carter will serve as a contributing editor for AJR . He'll also continue to write a weekly public affairs column syndicated by the Newspaper Enterprise Association.