McManus gives up helm of weekly finance paper

Jenni McManus, dubbed the "soul" of weekly business newspaper the Independent, is stepping aside from the editor's chair just under three months after the title was bought by Australian publisher John Fairfax.

McManus, who founded the paper with the late editor and publisher Warren Berryman in 1992, will stay on as a financial and investigative journalist, for three days a week.

The move comes just before the paper's impending relaunch, which some believe could see the publication reborn as a glossy weekly called the Independent Financial Review. This would play on the financial credentials of its stablemate, the Australian Financial Review.

Fairfax New Zealand chief operating officer Peter O'Hara said McManus' decision had "come about after discussion about what we both looked forward to in the future".

He declined to comment on the relaunch, saying only that it would be soon.

McManus said she had planned to continue as the paper's editor when it was sold in February, but had a change of heart.

Since Berryman died in early 2004 she had been doing the work of two people and now wanted to take a breather, the award-winning journalist said.

"For the last couple of years I have been on my own. I have done the work of two people. There is a limit to how long you can do that. Writing is what I love to do. I am really happy Fairfax has agreed to let me write again."

McManus, who is also returning to university to finish a law degree, said relations with Fairfax were good.

She was happy with the way the paper was developing.

Asked what her first piece would be in her new role she replied with the acerbic humour for which she is well-known: "Piss off."

When Fairfax acquired the Independent in February it made a lot of McManus' value to the masthead. "When the opportunity presented to purchase [the Independent] with the ability to retain the services of editor Jenni McManus, we put aside thoughts of starting up a weekly business publication," Fairfax NZ chief executive Joan Withers said.

Fairfax managing editor of business publishing Bernard Hickey will assume the editor's position through the relaunch and then a replacement will be appointed.