Hamill Resigns as Top Editor of N.Y. Daily News

Acclaimed writer Pete Hamill, hired just nine months ago to stem a circulation slide and inject some street smarts into the city’s largest tabloid, resigned Thursday as editor in chief of the Daily News, the newspaper said.

Publisher Mortimer Zuckerman, who had praised Hamill for his “New York savvy” when he named him in November, issued a memo to the staff that said “notwithstanding our interest in having Pete Hamill remain as editor in chief, he has decided to resign.”

Zuckerman made no mention of a successor.

The publisher and Hamill reportedly disagreed over how to reverse a drop in circulation.

“Obviously, the production of the newspaper must be a team effort, with a common view of the direction of the paper and the path to be traveled,” Zuckerman’s memo said. “It is now apparent that there is not a common vision as to the method of operations to achieve this new level.”

Hamill, 62, took over on Jan. 1. Under his tenure, the paper printed excerpts of Norman Mailer’s latest book, “The Gospel According to the Son,” and hired screenwriter William Goldman to cover the Oscars. But the circulation continued to fall. The latest figures available show that as of March 31, average daily circulation was 728,000, off 30,000 from a year earlier.