2:51 P.M. Updated with new information.
3:06 P.M. Updated with additional source.
3:55 P.M. Updated with response from Harper’s.
Roger D. Hodge, who has been the editor of Harper’s Magazine since 2006, will be stepping down effective next Monday.
Ellen Rosenbush, the managing editor of the magazine, will become acting editor.
John R. MacArthur, president and publisher of Harper’s, said in an interview this morning that the decision to leave was Mr. Hodge’s. “It’s his choice, and it’s personal, and I just don’t want to go into it because it’s not something I can elaborate on,” he said. “That’s his decision, and it’s his choice not to talk about it, so my reaction is, get the best person for the job in the short term here, and the best person for the job is Ellen Rosenbush,” Mr. MacArthur said.
However, a person at the magazine with knowledge of the situation, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the matter, said that was not the case. Mr. Hodge had been dismissed Monday evening, this person said, and Mr. MacArthur’s claim that the decision was his choice, and personal, was incorrect. (The person’s account was corroborated by another Harper’s employee, who also asked to remain anonymous for fear of being fired.)
Mr. Hodge was not given a specific reason for his dismissal, this person said, just the general weakness of the magazine’s newsstand sales and circulation figures.
In the interview this morning, when asked whether Mr. Hodge was asked to step down or whether he chose to, Mr. MacArthur said it was Mr. Hodge’s decision.
Asked about the magazine employees’ comments this afternoon, Mr. MacArthur said, “I misspoke. I should have just stuck to, it’s personal, it’s between him and me.”
“I stand by what I said about the good things he did for the magazine,” Mr. MacArthur said.
Mr. MacArthur told employees of the move in an e-mail message this morning, and the company announced the shift in a news release this afternoon, saying Mr. Hodge was stepping down to “pursue other endeavors.”
Mr. Hodge began at the magazine as an intern in 1996, overseeing a Web site redesign in 2000 and editing several sections before becoming deputy editor in 2004, and editor in 2006, replacing longtime editor Lewis H. Lapham.
Ms. Rosenbush has been managing editor of Harper’s since 1989. “Obviously, she is in the running to become the permanent editor,” Mr. MacArthur said.
Mr. MacArthur said that he had been pleased with Mr. Hodge’s performance, particularly in strengthening the Harper’s Web site and in ramping up the magazine’s reporting. He cited the magazine’s story about the cover-up of Guantanamo suicides, posted on the Web site last week and running as the March cover story, as a particularly sterling example.
Still, the magazine has a relatively small circulation of about 200,000, according to its most recent filing with the Audit Bureau of Circulations, and circulation fell from 2007 to 2008, and from 2008 to the first half of 2009.
Mr. MacArthur said that was, in part, due to the political climate.
“We don’t just have Bush to kick around anymore, so to speak,” he said. “One of the reasons we were doing so well is we were beating up on Bush. We’re very critical of Obama, but there isn’t the same intensity of feeling about Obama that there was about Bush.”
“I’m more confident about the future because of the Guantánamo piece and the paid model of the Web site, and I think I’m seeing a little bit of uptick on the newsstand,” Mr. MacArthur said.
Mr. Hodge did not immediately return requests for comment, and Harper’s declined to make him available for an interview.