One day after Leo Wolinsky's 10-month tenure as editor of Daily Variety came to an end, the struggling trade made a flurry of promote-from-within announcements – bumping up Cynthia Littleton and Brian Cochrane.
Veteran editors Littleton and Cochrane will share the title of deputy editor, overseeing both of trade's print and digital news operations.
With print veteran Wolinsky gone, the trade appears to finally be merging its print and digital sides.
Littleton comes to the role having already served as the top news decision-maker for the Hollywood Reporter, a job she gave up when former Variety editor-in-chief Peter Bart brought her over in 2007.
Cochrane has been with the paper since 1998, and has most recently overseen the Weekly Variety print product as assistant managing editor.
Unlike longtime L.A. Times operative Wolinsky, who only managed news operations for Variety's daily print products, Littleton and Cochrane will have news oversight for digital, as well, with online editor Chris Krewson remaining in his job, overseeing production for the trade's website.
Among other changes, Carole Horst and Peter Caranicas — both of whom worked in the trade's features department — will now oversee editorial concerns for Weekly Variety.
In addition to shaking up its news operations, Variety is trying to goose its moribund revenue with production of live events. In fact, the trade has four B-to-B conferences scheduled on the same week in early December.
