Serious newspapers are seriously complex beasts, a mesh of history, contacts and personalities: which is why Lionel Barber at the FT, John Witherow at the Times, Amol Rajan at the Indy, Chris Evans at the Telegraph and Zanny Beddoes at the Economist were all essentially appointments from within. And now, after much worldwide headhunting and advertising, the inside wins again, as Katharine Viner emerges as editor-in-chief at the Guardian, the first woman in that role.
It has taken three months to find Alan Rusbridger’s successor: roughly the same time as electing a new Labour leader, with manifestoes and hustings in a Scott Trust effort to give staff a voice and outside applicants a chance. But, in the end, the new boss will be one of Alan Rusbridger’s longstanding deputies, beating former deputy and rival Ian Katz in a last round.
Too many twists on a road to produce the answer many first thought of and the staff overwhelmingly endorsed in an indicative ballot? Perhaps. Next time the contest will probably be shorter and sharper. There are longterm dangers in making newspapers feel too much like political parties, with their ideological cliques. Editors will of course be democrats: but democracy has limits in the 24/7 rush of deadlines.
Viner has done many jobs over the past 18 years. She’s a known, experienced quantity. She has the staff behind her. There’s a popular will to make this new page of history work. And the Guardian she inherits, like the one Rusbridger inherited, is hugely changed and hugely challenging. So newsroom support isn’t some optional extra: it’s the bedrock of whatever the future brings.