Brian Cunningham Fired By Wizard?

I e-mailed for confirmation long enough ago I have to figure I'm not going to get any, so here's this: I'm told by multiple sources that longtime Wizard fixture Brian Cunningham was let go by the company today. He was currently Executive Editor, a company-wide title, but I'm told that included serving as the magazine's editor. So one bit of follow-up news should be to try to figure out who will fulfill that role now -- a leading candidate I guess would be current managing editor Mike Cotton. Cunningham was there almost 15 years, I think.

I could be totally wrong about this as well, but I was casting about for Brian's address and I think he may have been posting on their messageboards as late as this afternoon, which suggests that the move may have come as a surprise. I'm told that the news was a surprise to a number of ex-Wizard employees, who considered Cunningham an ingrained part of that magazine's culture. If I get confirmation from an official source, I'll post it here.

Wizard has undergone a tremendous amount of employee turnover, particularly among the entertainment company's "middle class" -- employees not upper management but not intern or starting-level salaried, either. With lost momentum in the convention arm of their business since Reed snagged the New York show many thought would go to the then-surging company, and with things tough for print magazines all over, the massive turnover has been seen as a sign of something other than rock-solid stability and a series of person to person staffing decisions.
 
posted 1:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

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