MediaBuyerPlanner: Mark Whitaker, editor of Washington Post Co.'s Newsweek for the past eight years, will leave the position in order to take on a strategic role with the online department of the parent company.

The move has been rumored for months; the announcement is expected as early as next week, MediaPost writes.

Jon Meacham, currently Newsweek's managing editor, will take over the role of editor. Meacham has been with Newsweek since 1995 and has published two recent books: Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship, and American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation.

Newsweek faces fierce rivalry from Time magazine, which announced early last week that the magazine would begin publishing on Fridays instead of Mondays.

Newsweek has considered a similar change of publication day but has made no decisions, people close to the situation say.

Both publications have found it necessary to change editorial focus slightly in recent years as 24-hour news networks and internet news compete for readers. They have moved away from hard news toward features about lifestyle, health, and "news you can use," according to the article.

Newsweek's ad pages are up 2 percent in the first half of this year compared with last year. In last year's first half, ad pages were down 14 percent from the previous year, according to Publishers Information Bureau.