ink-stained wretches

Features Editor Orla Healy Out at Daily News

Foster Kamer over at the Village Voice reports — and we hear, confirmed by inside sources — that Orla Healy has been let go from the edit staff of the Daily News. A powerhouse at the tabloid, Orla served as the features editor since 2005. (She’d also worked at the New York Post previously.) According to Kamer, “There is, from what we hear, a quiet (but palpable) celebration happening in the New York Daily News newsroom right now.” Having worked with Healy for about a year, I’m not sure that’s entirely true — she was a tough but smart editor who expected a lot from her workers. It’s very easy for tabloid newsrooms to get stagnant, and accordingly hard to shake life into things. Healy had detractors, and also loyal allies — but she was a controversial leader to many, and her removal is the first high-profile personnel move that new editor Kevin Convey has made. We hear he’s been “keeping his cards close to the vest” up until now, and this probably signals that he’s ready to play a hand or two. Or at least cut the deck.

Orla Healy Fired from NY Daily News, Schadenfreude Runs Wild [Runnin’ Scared/VV]

Features Editor Orla Healy Out at Daily News