New Boston Globe editor: Brian McGrory

McGrory, an assistant editor and twice-a-week columnist, takes over for Martin Baron, now at the Post.

http://www.boston.com/businessupdates/2012/12/20/brian-mcgrory-named-globe-new-editor/EhBzGTHu3K0qPTHspdKaQJ/story.html

 

He's a horrible columnist, but that doesn't mean he can't be a good editor. However, as a Globe reader, the banality of his columns makes me doubtful.

 

If anything, the banality of someone's columns probably makes them prime editor material. If they were great at writing and thinking outside the box, and perhaps thought that were their calling, they might have stuck with writing. I know, a simplification and a prejudice, but not a foreign summation of what differentiates a writer from an editor.

 

I'm not sure about that. The best editors I had, and I was lucky to have many good ones, were insightful thinkers. They had ideas and an idea on how to implement them. They knew their writers and how to get the best out of them. McGrory demonstrated precisely zero creativity or insight in his many years as a metro columnist.

 

I'm interested in seeing whether he still writes on occasion. Despite Mr. Gee's critique, he does have somewhat of a following.

 

i never cared much for mcgroury as a columnist, but thinking about it now, outside of derrick z. jackson (who is great), are there any globe columnists worth reading?

 

I enjoy Chad Finn's columns.

 

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