Times Magazine Editor Named ABC News Producer

Linda Mathews, editor of the Los Angeles Times Magazine, was hired Monday as senior producer in charge of foreign news coverage for ABC’s “World News Tonight with Peter Jennings.”

Mathews will oversee international news stories on the nightly newscast. She begins her new job in New York in mid-January.

“Linda has done an excellent job with the magazine, especially in the transition to a larger format, and in her other assignments at The Times,” said Shelby Coffey III, editor of The Times. “We wish her the best at ABC, and we’ll miss her.”

Mathews, who has been editor of the magazine since 1989, has served in several editorial roles at the newspaper. She was Beijing bureau chief from 1979 to 1980 and Hong Kong bureau chief from 1977 to 1979. Mathews covered the U.S. Supreme Court from 1972 to 1976.

She was an editorial writer for The Times from 1988 to 1989, assistant foreign editor from 1985 to 1988 and assistant national editor from 1981 to 1985.

There was no immediate word on her successor at the magazine.