Radhika Jones, A "Fearless and Brilliant Editor" Says Wintour, Will Head Vanity Fair Magazine

Radhika Jones, 44, will become Vanity Fair’s sixth editor since its founding in 1913 and the fifth since it was revived in the early 1980s. CreditChad Batka for The New York Times

Did Hollywood's continuing Harvey Weinstein scandal affect Conde Nast's decision to move the lower profile, but not less credentialed Radhika Jones into the editor-in-chief chair at Vanity Fair?

Jones will be the magazine's fifth editor-in-chief since it was revived in 1983, and she succeeds the famed Graydon Carter, who has helmed Vanity Fair since 1992. 

"There is nothing else out there quite like Vanity Fair," Jones said in a statement.  "It doesn't just reflect our culture — it drives our understanding of it. It can mix high and low, wit and gravitas, powerful narrative and irresistible photography. It has a legacy of influential reporting, unmatchable style and, above all, dedication to its readers. I am honored to succeed Graydon Carter as editor and excited to get to work."

We'll never know if the Harvey Weinstein scandal and its aftermath influenced Conde Nast's pick of Radhika Jones, but it seems probable that a too-familiar relationship with Hollywood moguls might not be an ace credential in what has become a daily struggle of outing one Hollywood exec after another over sexual harassment accusations and sexual assault. Perhaps a more important qualification could be an editor or writer's relationship with the women of Hollywood and women in general. 

“If publishing companies and media organizations are not thinking about these issues as they pick new top leaders, then they’re making a significant mistake,” said David Folkenflik, media correspondent with National Public Radio in New York. “They need to think about how their cultures operate and to not be on autopilot looking for a fix for the razor-thin profit margins.

“All organisations need to think hard about this issue and they need to think hard about how they cover it. Have they been too cosy with the world of celebrity? Have they been turning a blind eye in order in ensure access? The proximity to glitz should not blind anyone, particularly journalists, to their role as honest arbiters.”

Prior to joining the Times a year ago as editorial director of the New York Times' book section, Jones was deputy managing editor at Time. Before that, she was managing editor of the Paris Review. Jones has also worked at Artforum, Grand Street and the Moscow Times and holds degrees from Harvard and Columbia.

Devoted to finding new talent and seeing herself as an intermediary that brings new voices and artists together, Jones moves into her office at Vanity Fair on Dec. 11, overseeing all content development, production and consumer experiences for the magazine's numerous platforms.  Anna Wintour, the Vogue editor in chief who also serves as Condé Nast's artistic director, called Vanity Fair's the new chief "a fearless and brilliant editor whose intelligence and curiosity will define the future of Vanity Fair in the years to come."

Jones will host the glossy's iconic Oscars party, the fifth annual New Establishment Summit and the publication's 105th anniversary. She will also oversee the digital expansion of the Hive, Vanity Fair's media, business and technology site.

The New York Times shares a slightly more private side of Jones, whose father Robert L. Jones was "a prominent figure on the Cambridge, Mass. folk scene in the late 1950s and early 1960s.