Leave West, Young Man?

by Steven Zeitchik, PW Newsline -- Publishers Weekly, 1/31/2005

Could Steve Wasserman soon be leaving the L.A. Times? Buzz is getting louder that the head of the book review at the West Coast's biggest paper could be getting ready for a departure, with sources reporting that over the last few weeks he's had conversations with East Coast editors about other jobs.

Wasserman came to the LAT eight years ago after a career at Times Books and NY publishing, bringing a flash of intellectualism to the paper. But he has also reportedly had a number of run-ins with supervisors who saw the section he ran as being overly highbrow. With the recent announcement that Wasserman would report to longtime Times-er Tim Rutten, sources describe conditions which could precipitate a departure. "If this did happen, I think a lot of people wouldn't be surprised. Some might even ask why it didn't happen sooner," said one literary insider.

Reached at his L.A. office, however, Wasserman said that there's "no basis whatever to this rumor. I am in the saddle as the editor of the L.A. Times Book Review." As for the calls on other jobs, he said, "Over the course of the years, I've sought advice from any number of people," describing any calls, past or present, as "informational in nature." Former colleagues say Wasserman has long sought a job at the New York Times and was even recently spotted in the Times' offices. But one source thought it unlikely he had anything lined up at any section of the paper and others said that, in any event, it was extremely unlikely he'd wind up at the Times Book Review.

Rutten said that the change in reporting structure was part of a larger re-org and had nothing specifically to do with Wasserman. On changes at the Book Review, he said, "As far as I know Steve has no plans to leave the Los Angeles Times, and the Los Angeles Times's plans coincide with his."

His other comments notwithstanding, Wasserman appeared to leave the door open; asked whether he would predict that he would be at the helm of the L.A. Times Book Review in three months, he said, "I live in Southern California. The sun shines every day. The palm trees stand all. But a Magnitude Eight can strike at any moment. It would be reckless in the extreme to make any predictions."