Hoge Resigns as Publisher of New York Daily News

James Hoge announced Friday that he is resigning as publisher of the New York Daily News, four months after the tabloid was sold following a bitter strike.

“After seven fulfilling and productive years as its publisher, I wish the Daily News and Bob Maxwell every success,” Hoge said in a statement.

Hoge will remain a consultant to Maxwell Newspapers Inc., parent company of the Daily News. He also accepted an appointment for the fall semester as senior fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Hoge has spent his time since the paper was sold in March outside the New York office, visiting Maxwell newspaper facilities in Great Britain, Europe and Israel.

He stayed on as publisher and chief operating officer when Tribune Co. sold the paper to media baron Robert Maxwell, the only alternative to a shutdown after a bitter strike that slashed circulation and cost millions of dollars.

“It was quite clear that having conducted such a vicious fight with the unions he could not live in harmony with them. This parting of the ways was unavoidable,” said Theodore Kheel, the unpaid legal adviser to the unions during the strike.

Before joining the News as publisher, Hoge had been publisher of the Chicago Sun-Times, where he had risen through the reporting and editorial ranks.

His departure had been rumored since the News was sold, but as recently as this week a spokesman for the paper had said the decision rested with Hoge.