For once, some good news: Tracy Connor will take the helm of The Daily Beast as its new editor in chief. Connor, who has served as the news site’s executive editor since 2018, ascended to the role after the previous editor Noah Shachtman departed for Rolling Stone. A hard-hitting reporter and fearless editor, Connor has worked at the New York Post, New York Daily News and NBC News—experiences she’s drawn upon in her time at the Beast. Connor told The New York Times that the Beast was “an almost perfect blending of my tabloid background and also the passion that I had developed for deep digging.” She said she aims to expand the Beast’s investigative work, hoping to “find the scandal before the scandal breaks.”
Connor also hopes to feature more opinion columns outside of politics, including entertainment, culture, and national news. “I’d like to expand that ‘voiciness’ into more columns on a broader array of topics, whether it’s culture and entertainment and lifestyle topics, and then also more columns that are pivoting right off national news that is happening outside of D.C.,” she said.
Barry Diller, the head of Beast parent company InterActiveCorp, lauded Connor’s ascension. “I’m always most pleased to promote from within, and Tracy Connor is a fine example of that preference: talented, savvy, and more than capable of leading the Beast,” he said in a statement.
