The Forward newspaper and its editor in chief, J.J. Goldberg, announced this week that Goldberg is scaling back his editorial duties and assuming the newly created position of editorial director.

Goldberg will continue to write the Forward’s editorials and oversee its overall editorial content, while other staff members will assume many of the management and supervisory duties, said Samuel Norich, the newspaper’s publisher. Wayne Hoffman, the Forward’s managing editor, will serve as acting editor. The Forward Association, the paper’s owner, will begin a search for a new editor in chief in 2008, and expects to make an appointment in the coming months, Norich added. Goldberg has been handing over day-to-day supervisory duties over the past several months while beginning work on a book project.

“I am very proud of the work we’ve done here over the past seven and a half years, but it’s time to get back to my writing,” Goldberg said. “I’m grateful that the Forward Association is making it possible for me to rearrange my role here, even while I pursue my other projects.”

“Goldberg has given the Forward a voice that is admired and respected inside and outside the Jewish world,” Norich said. “We’re at the head of a long line of his admirers. At the same time, he’s built a staff of great editors and writers who manage to produce a newspaper and a Web site that reward the loyalty of our readers with their eloquence, clarity of thought, and independence.”

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