Style at Home editor Jane Francisco named editor of Chatelaine
Jane Francisco, the editor-in-chief of Style at Home magazine, has been named editor-in-chief of Chatelaine, replacing Maryam Sanati, dismissed last week. Francisco was only named editor of Transcon's Style at Home in June, succeed the founding editor Gail Johnston Habs, who retired at the end of May. Francisco had been editor-in-chief of Wish magazine, which was closed by St. Joseph Media in November 2008.
Francisco is not a stranger to Rogers, having previously been editor-in-chief of Glow, the beauty and health magazine published in collaboration with Shoppers Drug Mart.
In a Rogers release, Ken Whyte, the executive publisher of Chatelaine, said:
"Jane has a passion for journalism, a strong track record of success, and high-level experience with prominent Canadian magazine brands.She has an intuitive understanding of what Canadian women want, and we are confident she will serve Chatelaine's readers very well."
Labels: appointment
posted by D. B. Scott at
6:41 pm
34 Comments:
I'll be interested to read her ed. letters. I've always enjoyed the words in Chatelaine, and always skipped exactly that in Wish.
Fantastic choice! Exactly what Chatelaine needs right now. Can't wait to see what she does. Congrats Jane.
Does anyone know how she's connected to Ken? Did they ever work together? She doesn't seem to be a former Post person...
Good track record? Someone who watered down two mags (no vision for advertisers to buy into) and drove them into the ground. Hmmm...
Money talks.
Sounds like a good fit. Chatelaine has been moribund for some time. This is a nice upgrade for them, but now what will Snore at Home do? Looks like they just lost their best chance at a fresh makeover.
When you are attached to a magazine that folds, how do you spin it for your next step?
I'm sure her partner-in-crime, Sandy Kim, won't be far behind. I wouldn't be surprised if she became the art director.
A dark day. After a mat leave, Sanati had just begun to execute a vision for the magazine that was true to its legacy: strong, opinionated writing based on the belief that women's issues matter. Francisco is an advertorial hack with zero experience editing actual features. This is dumbing down for the corporate bottom line, pure and simple. Charticles, not articles. Doris Anderson is spinning in her grave.
Yeah, I guess the people at Gourmet, Domino, Met Home etc. will never get work again. St Jo folded Wish because the shelter category was hit, not because Jane was a poor editor. She's exactly what moribund, middling magazine needs. Congratulations Jane.
Sanati is one of our country's best journalists, with a passion for telling stories we will never forget. All of her features in Chatelaine have been fantastic--the book does need some help but she was just getting there. Now we're going to have the Chatelaine version of Wish (enough already--obviously nobody like it the first time) covering important issues like how to wear a $500 cashmere sweater 8 ways. I just cancelled my subscription.
It's great to see the sniping, back-biting partisan tradition still so alive in our country's media capitol. "I know Maryam, therefore I hate Jane." Sheesh. Anyone familiar with the players will see this as a positive move for that venerable but faded publication.
Isn't the ceremonial change of editors at Chatelaine always very exciting?! Let's give Jane a chance.
Bring Rona back!
That's a pretty senior staff at Chatelaine and Jane is a notorious micro manager--it's going to be interesting to see who can take working for her.
Any change is difficult, but exciting, as we at Style at Home can attest. Jane brought an amazing energy, intelligence and creativity to her role as editor-in-chief at our magazine, and we enjoyed working with her immensely. She'll be missed by all of us. We can't wait to see what she'll do at Chatelaine.
Interestingly, the CBC was running a story on Maryam Sanati's firing on its website. There were many VERY negative comments and people agreeing that Rogers had messed this one up BIG TIME. Now, all of a sudden, the CBC story is closed to comments. Wonder why.
Curiouser and curiouser.
I had lots of questions when Marc Blondeau suddenly left with no real explanation.
And where's Lise Ravary, who hired the last two Chatelaine EICs, not to mention a few in Quebec for the French magazine? That's not exactly a great track record. Is that why she's on leave?
There's more here. You can bet on it.
Print is dying. The panic has set in.
Give Jane a chance? For woman's sake!! We want the magazine to survive and the only way was with Maryam's vision, journalism experience, and respect. Unless you want to see another advertorial on the rack. Do you really?
Before anyone piles on me for "not giving Jane a chance", let me first say that I know very little about her. Secondly, I love magazines, not as an insider, but as a reader. Yes, Canadian magazine people, people who buy magazines actually *do* like to read, a point that I think as a buyer of your wares is less and less considered based on the crap I've been seeing in your offerings of late.
I also like a bit of eye candy, and my shopping cart usually has a Cdn House & Home, Wish before it cacked.
But if Jane's background is only as an editor of mags that offer up eye candy, (Glow & Wish are bathroom fare - when five minutes is all you really need...) why is she perched at Chatelaine? I presume editors like to work with ideas, and words?? What's the longest piece she has ever written? Or edited? Can anyone point me to an example of her "passion for journalism" to help me gain a better understanding of her ideas and opinions?
For my subscription's sake, I wish her well, but if the plan is to turn it into a shiny offering with little depth, ciao Chatelaine.
How long do you think before she puts herself on the cover?
I think all of the blonde hair tossing she does put Ken in her trance because I really don't think he's as dumb as this decision makes him look.
Yikes. There's a lot of snark going on here, and I'm not seeing a good reason for it. Jane obviously has a lot of experience, and maybe this is just the kind of change that Chatelaine needs. Who's to say that this isn't a great thing? Let's all put down the sharp, pointy sticks and see what Jane can do.
Nice derriere-kiss, Alicia, but I'm still not sure it's enough to keep you safe.
I'm not entirely sure what I need to be safe from, Sharon. I'm not currently attached to any magazine and I've never had so much as a conversation with Jane Francisco. But considering the sorry state of the publishing industry right now, and the fact that we're ALL a little worried about our jobs, being unnecessarily catty to one another seems childish. I'm not so much about ass kissing as simply being open-minded.
Oh, sorry, my comment was directed at the other Alicia. You should feel fortunate you're not attached to any magazine right now.
Hmm, looking through this blog's archives, it seems that when Sanati was announced in 2008, her boss Lise Ravary was quoted as saying: "She has an intuitive understanding of what today's Canadian women
want from their Chatelaine."
Now Ken Whyte is saying Jane Francisco "...has an intuitive understanding of what Canadian women want." He's so barely interested in this magazine (and probably women's lives in general) that he can't even drum up original praise for his new editor.
Does anyone think Ken (or anyone else quoted in those press releases) actually said or wrote those words himself? They were penned by the PR department. It's an oops for the usually very effective Suneel Khanna more than it is for Ken.
I'm getting the intuitive understanding that a lot of commenters hate/fear Ken. Luke, he is your fa-ther.
Anonymous 9:37, as former St Joes serf who doesn't know Jane personally but who feels why not give her a chance: The reason why she and the other Wish editrixes were on their covers so often was budget related.
Meow! I get it, Chatelaine is a magazine that features strong, journalistic stories on important issues for women. But it is also about sweaters, recipes, lipstick, and the latest tv shows. For heavens sake it has a horoscope page! It's a women's service mag. That said I don't want to see Chatelaine turn into a shopping rag.If Jane is smart she'll stick to the roots there and freshen the look and tone.
And I agree, her ed letters are a snore. Say something important!
" Luke, he is your fa-ther."
No. He's a formulaic contrarian.
Wow. You girls need more to do. Things were so much easier when you all still smoked!
PS
I love it when journalists threaten to unsubscribe... like you ever did!
She will do with that mag what the man with his arm up her back makes her do.
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