NAMES IN THE NEWS : Atlanta Paper Names Martin Editor

ATLANTA — Ronald D. Martin, vice president and executive editor of USA Today, was named today as editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, five months after the stormy exit of Bill Kovach.

Martin will begin work at the Atlanta papers on Monday, said Publisher Jay Smith, who made the announcement. Arnold Rosenfeld, who has served as interim editor, will become editor-in-chief of Cox Newspapers, the parent company of the Atlanta papers, Smith said.

Rosenfeld said Martin is a “very experienced newspaper person and one I have great respect for.”

Kovach, a former Washington bureau chief for The New York Times, resigned from the Atlanta newspapers last November after a dispute with management over control of the Cox chain’s Washington bureau. His departure sparked an effort by admirers, including a march in downtown Atlanta, to get him back on the job.