Daily News Editor Martin Dunn Steps Down

New York Daily News editor-in-chief Martin Dunn announced he is stepping down today. He told Media Decoder (which characterized the news as "unexpected") that he will be spending time with his family and taking care of his wife, who has cancer, "She has an illness that is going to take us many months to get over, and I want to spend as much time as I can with her. The demands of running a tabloid newspaper in a city with a tabloid war are enormous. And if you can’t spend every ounce of energy doing that then unfortunately you don’t feel as though the paper is getting the best of you."

Dunn has been editor-in-chief since 2005 (he was also the editorial director from 2004 to 2005) and was also editor-in-chief during the 1990s. In the News' press release, News publisher and owner Mort Zuckerman said, “This seven-year stretch is the second time that Martin Dunn and I have worked together. During this stint the newspaper broke many exclusive stories, won many awards, most recently for our ground-breaking work on compensation and financial help for 9/11 rescue workers. His strong editorial vision has permeated the paper. Martin is a wonderful man and a person of extraordinary talents."

Dunn's replacement will be Kevin Convey, editor-in-chief of the Boston Herald. Zuckerman said of Convey, "Kevin will keep the paper true to its character and voice and bring to it his unique energy and wit," and Convey said, "I am looking forward to the challenge of editing the Daily News, which has some of the most talented people in the newspaper business and the web anywhere in the world. It is a great privilege," adding, "Under Martin's leadership, the Daily News is already New York's most widely-circulated and best read newspaper, and I will be looking to build on that success."