Daily News names Platt new editor

Former Philadelphia magazine editor Larry Platt will take the helm of the Daily News effective Jan. 31, Philadelphia Media Network publisher Greg Osberg announced yesterday.

"I stated a personality goal for the brand - loud, irreverent and fun - and I thought, 'Well, if we could find an editor that exhibited those traits, that wouldn't be a bad thing,' " Osberg said during a meeting with newsroom staff.

Platt, he said, "has spectacular ideas for the brand."

Platt replaces Michael Days, who will become the Inquirer's managing editor.

Days began working for the Daily News 25 years ago and became editor in 2005. On his watch, the paper has won numerous local and national awards, including the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting.

"Michael's very collegial but he knows how to put his foot to the pedal," said Inquirer editor Stan Wischnowski. "If you combine his 25 years of outstanding journalism in Philadelphia with his collaborative spirit and his approachability, you have exactly what I was looking for in a managing editor."

Platt, who was not in the newsroom for the announcement yesterday, said that he was a big fan of the Daily News, a paper he's been reading since his student days at Lower Merion High School. He said that he would begin meeting with staffers this morning to solicit their input before determining if any content changes were needed.

"I'm excited because there's such an amazing tradition that continues to this day," he said. "The community needs a feisty paper that speaks truth to power, especially in this town."

When Platt left Philadelphia magazine in June after nearly eight years as editor, Daily News columnist Dan Gross reported that his departure was due in part to his "history of inappropriate and unprofessional remarks and jokes to his employees that closely resembled the behavior of fictional 'The Office' boss Michael Scott."

Platt yesterday said that he has never knowingly been inappropriate in the workplace.

"I do like to have fun, and in a creative enterprise, if you're having fun putting a publication together, that fun finds its way into the publication," he said.

"All that said, I'm deadly serious about my work and always have been. To the extent that I've ever offended anyone, I always regret it and have been man enough to apologize if and when that happens."

Under Platt's leadership, Philadelphia magazine received its first back-to-back nominations for the National Magazine Award in General Excellence.

Platt is also a freelance writer, whose work has appeared in national publications such as GQ. He is the author of three books, including the 2002 biography, "Only the Strong Survive: The Odyssey of Allen Iverson."