Radhika Jones, editorial director of the books department at the New York Times, will succeed Graydon Carter as editor of Vanity Fair, sources with knowledge of the selection process said on Saturday.

Jones’s appointment was first reported by her current employer, citing two people with knowledge of the decision. Condé Nast, the magazine’s publisher, did not confirm the report but sources told the Guardian the Times was correct.

The appointment of Jones, 44, will resolve a succession question that became a kind of parlour game for media watchers on both side of the Atlantic after Carter, 68, announced his retirement in September.

The Canadian was reported to be unhappy with efforts to induce him to initiate staff and budget cuts. He gave management just 30 minutes warning of his intention to step down, a source said, before a story dropped on the Times website. Budget cuts have continued at Condé Nast titles, as the company seeks to offset falling income from advertising and circulation.

Compared to other names that were reported to be under consideration, Jones is a relative unknown.

Prior to joining the Times a year ago, she was deputy managing editor at Time magazine. Prior to that, she was managing editor of the Paris Review. She has also worked at Artforum, Grand Street and the Moscow Times and holds degrees from Harvard and Columbia.

On Saturday, sources said that after weeks of interviews, Jones was selected at a meeting early this week. Janice Min of the Hollywood Reporter was among the unsuccessful candidates.

David Remnick, editor of the Condé Nast-published New Yorker, championed Jones and ultimately won over the CEO, Bob Sauerberg, and members of the owning Newhouse family, a source said.

The Vanity Fair editorship has long been considered to require an elusive set of attributes, from news judgment to the ability to smooth-talk neurotic celebrities and manage an annual Oscars party. Carter’s predecessor in the role was Tina Brown, who went on to edit the New Yorker, Talk and the Daily Beast.



The job may not now come with the perks for which it was once famous, including country and town houses and a 24-hour driver. A source said the offered basic pay for Carter’s successor was $500,000, a steep drop from his rumored $3m.

“To the owner, you’re sort of like a patch of mould on the kitchen ceiling,” Carter told the Times on announcing his retirement. “You’re not quite sure about it, but as long as it doesn’t start dripping, you can just let it be.”