ESPN Magazine named John Papanek VP & Editor-in-Chief.
Most recently, he was Senior VP/Editor-in-Chief of New
Century Network (NCN), and prior to joining NCN, he spent 23
years at Time Warner Inc., including 19 at Sports
Illustrated as a Reporter, Writer, Senior Editor and
Managing Editor. He is credited with creating and editing
SI for Kids in '89, and in '90 he returned to SI as the
youngest managing editor in the magazine's history. In '92,
Papanek was promoted to Time Inc.'s senior management team
as the company's first Dir of New Media. The magazine will
debut next March (ESPN). In N.Y., Michael Shain reports that
Papanek will begin his job officially in mid-September.
Shain adds that ESPN execs "are reluctant to claim they are
itching to go toe-to-toe with SI," which sells an average of
3.3 million copies a week. Papanek: "I have no sense that
the people here expect this will be as big a success as
Sports Illustrated any time soon" (N.Y. POST, 8/19).
Papanek said that ESPN Magazine would target a younger
audience that SI "hasn't captured" (MEDIAWEEK, 8/18 issue).
SCORE TO SETTLE? In getting the job, Shain writes that
"it didn't hurt" Papanek "that he has a score to settle with
SI." After becoming Managing Editor in '90, Shain writes "a
restless" publisher "forced Papanek ... out of the most
prestigious job in sports journalism after just 18 months."
Shain: "By most accounts ... Papanek was roughly treated by
SI publisher (and Papanek's predecessor) Mark Mulvoy."
Papanek: "I don't look back with any bitterness or sadness.
I just thought it was unfair that the circumstances during
the time I was managing editor were not the same for me as
they were for others" (N.Y. POST, 8/19).
