Justin Moran is the new editor in chief of Paper magazine effective immediately, said Tom Florio, chief executive officer and founder of ENTech Media Group, parent of Paper.
Moran joined Paper in 2017 as digital director and has lately moved Paper from its print roots to a social media-powered community platform. The magazine ceased print operations at the outset of the pandemic in 2020, when like many legacy print publications, it laid off staff and instituted temporary pay cuts as the pandemic decimated print advertising revenue. It has essentially been without an editorial leader since Drew Elliott left to join Mac Cosmetics in 2019.
“Paper has always been a champion of rising talent and, more recently in its evolution, also became a space for established stars to reinvent themselves and play around,” said Moran in a statement provided to WWD. “I’m excited to keep exploring that intersection and lean even further into the internet generation with our content. Queer ideas are mainstream ideas and Paper will continue being a leader of that ideology.”
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Florio, a former top executive at Condé Nast, purchased the then-influential counterculture glossy in 2017 from cofounders and coeditors Kim Hastreiter and David Hershkovits. In a statement to WWD he praised Moran’s tenure at Paper and his focus on the LGBTQ community.
“Justin has a deep knowledge and appreciation of the brand’s DNA, a true understanding of our audiences and the cultural conversations that drive them,” said Florio. “He has brought intellectual rigor to Paper’s iconic counterculture voice by embracing an LGBTQ ideology.”
During its heyday under Hastreiter, Paper was known for its avant garde cover spreads and early embrace of the now-colloquial “internet culture.” It’s 2014 cover featuring a naked Kim Kardashian (then West) shot by French photographer Jean-Paul Goude generated more than 70 million monthly unique visitors to Papermag.com and was a seminal moment in pop culture history.
The digital iteration of the brand has featured a eclectic lineup of cover subjects from establishment figures like (Steve Harvey) to Gen Z stalwarts (Coi Leray).
