Ms. Magazine to Name Editor

Tracy Wood, former investigations editor at the Orange County Register, is expected to be named editor in chief of Ms. magazine Monday. Wood, who before joining the Register staff in 1997 worked as an investigative reporter for the Los Angeles Times, will head the 30-year-old magazine as it debuts under new ownership from its West Coast office.

Ms. was purchased last year by the Feminist Majority Foundation and moved from New York to the foundation’s Beverly Hills building.

“Ms. has always tried to do one investigative piece per issue,” said magazine co-founder Gloria Steinem. “[Wood] increases that expertise and ability. [She is] an excellent investigative reporter who is accustomed to administering teams of reporters to do long-term, in-depth reporting.”

Although the appointment is to be announced Monday, Wood has been working on the magazine’s relaunch issue for the last five weeks. It will be on newsstands in October.

“We were all impressed with her investigative background,” said Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority.

“We want Ms. to break stories, to be on the front lines. She knows how to roll out a story and keep it going in the magazine and on the Web site. And,” Smeal added, “she has a very good sense of humor.”

Wood said she plans to use journalists all over the world to do investigative and breaking news stories for the magazine.

“I see this as the women’s news magazine,” Wood said. “We have no boundaries.”

Wood began her career working for United Press International in 1968. Beginning in 1972, she served as a combat correspondent in Vietnam, news editor in Hong Kong and foreign correspondent throughout Asia. During her 17 years at The Times, she broke stories on money laundering, corruption in the Los Angeles Unified School District and local hospitals, and covered the Rodney King beating and the investigation that followed.

Wood replaces former Editor in Chief Marcia Ann Gillespie.