Newsweek-Daily Beast Shuffles the Editor Decks -- Again

Newsweek-Daily Beast editor-in-chief Tina Brown has shuffled top editors -- again -- bringing in an old Newsweek.com hand to replacing departing executive editor Jane Spencer, who's going on a sabbatical. 

Daily Beast, which also hosts Newsweek's digital content. Spencer, who was promoted to that position during an editorial shake-up in November, will still contribute to the IAC-owned news operation as an International editor-at-large during her six month travel sabbatical.

Also read: Newsweek-Daily Beast Publisher, Two Top Editors Out (Updated)

Depke, who will report directly to Brown, will oversee the day-to-day editorial operations of a site that just set a traffic record in January with 11.83 million unique visitors.

"I’m excited that we are able to turn to an experienced and creative force in digital journalism in Deidre Depke to continue the explosive growth of The Daily Beast," Brown wrote in a blog post.

Depke most recently served as general manager of theweek.com.

Also read: Finances Still a Mess at Newsweek-Daily Beast

Spencer has been a part of the Beast's operation since its launch. Since taking over the reins of the site in November, she oversaw the continued integration of Newsweek.com content and Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish blog.

The former New Yorker and Vanity Fair editor also announced that Tom Watson will take over as managing editor of the Daily Beast, Louise Roug will become foreign editor of the combined operations and Jesse Wegman will join the company as a senior editor.

Newsweek and the Daily Beast merged in November of 2010, and there have been reports of discontent within the newsroom. Brown, often through NewsBeast spokesman Andrew Kirk, has always rejected that assessment, arguing that ad pages were coming back and that a turnaround was still under way.

According to Kirk, ad pages were up 43 percent in January, and Brown tweeted earlier this month that the website set a new record for traffic.

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