Gabriel Escobar Promoted To Philly Inquirer’s Top Newsroom Job

The Philadelphia Inquirer has appointed veteran journalist Gabriel Escobar as its editor and senior vice president.

In his new role, Escobar will lead the newsroom and drive its “ambitious digital transformation,” the newspaper announced Wednesday. According to The Philly Business Journal, he is the first Latino editor in the Inquirer’s 191 years of publishing.

Gabriel Escobar

“It is both humbling and an honor to be named editor of such a storied institution and one founded in the birthplace of the First Amendment,” Escobar said in a statement. “Gabriel García Márquez once said that journalism is the best job in the world. So is leading a newsroom whose talented and dedicated journalists continue to do extraordinary work in the face of extraordinary challenges.”

Escobar, 64, was named editor and vice president of Philadelphia Media Network in 2017, which put him at the helm of the Inquirer, Philly.com and the Philadelphia Daily News. He joined the Inquirer in 2007 and has held various positions including metropolitan editor, assistant managing editor and managing editor.

He previously spent 16 years at the Washington Post in reporting and editing positions. Escobar also worked for the Dallas Morning News, taught journalism at Southern Methodist University and served as associate director of the Pew Hispanic Center. In Philadelphia, he led teams covering Covid-19, protests, the 2015 Amtrak derailment, Pope Francis’ visit and more.

Escobar succeeds Stan Wischnowski, who resigned in June after the newspaper’s staff staged a partial walkout, calling out “sick and tired,” in response to a column headline equating the death of Black Americans at the hands of police to looting and damage to buildings. The Inquirer came under fire for publishing a column from architecture critic Inga Saffron with the headline “Buildings Matter, Too,” in the wake of the death of George Floyd and subsequent social unrest. The paper changed the headline and apologized to readers.