Editorially Barren WaPo Becomes Baron's WaPo

 (Photo credit: The U.S. National Archives)

Marcus Brauchli, 51, has stepped down as Executive Editor of The Washington Post after a four-year stint, paving the way for 58-year-old Boston Globe Editor Marty Baron's assumption of the mantle on January 2, according to reports in The New York Times and The Huffington Post.

Brauchli, formerly of the Wall St. Journal, will remain as a WaPo vice president overseeing new media opportunities. The daily won four Pulitzers under Brauchli, but also experienced a circulation decline to 507, 615, compared to 698,116 five years ago. Baron, a former Senior Editor at The New York Times (which owns the Globe) and Executive Editor of The Miami Herald, has been at the helm of the Globe since 2001, during which the daily has won six Pulitzers.

Brauchli's relationship with Publisher Katherine Weymouth reportedly has grown frosty. No word on whether the Globe will replace Baron with an internal candidate, someone from the Times' stable, or an outside editor.