• by Sara Guaglione , August 11, 2016

Just eight months after the new owner of The Village Voice, Peter Barbey, brought back Will Bourne as editor in chief, Bourne has been fired.

In response to a story from Adweek’s FishbowlNY blog about Bourne “stepping down,” Bourne wrote on Twitter: “Actually I was fired. If we're being honest with ourselves/your readers.”

The Village Voice’s official statement said Bourne had stepped down and managing editor Meave Gallagher would fill in for him until the publication found their next editor in chief.

Sources told Publishers Daily the Voice hopes to find a replacement soon.

“We thank Will for the contributions he’s made to the paper and wish him the best as he continues his career,” the company stated.

Bourne was editor of The Village Voice in 2013, but left the newspaper after just six months when he refused to lay off five employees from the 20-person staff.

Barbey reached out to Bourne shortly after he bought the troubled Voice from Voice Media Group in October 2015. Bourne replaced Tom Finkel as editor in chief, who served as editor after Bourne resigned. When Bourne took over, he was the sixth editor in chief of The Village Voice since 2005.

The Village Voice is gearing up for its big relaunch next year. Barbey’s family is reportedly worth $6.1 billion and Barbey plans to invest heavily in the publication.

The company announced yesterday that they have partnered with design consultancy Pentagram to spearhead a redesign of the newsprint weekly. The Village Voice has also tapped digital product shop Postlight to build “an entirely new” Web site for the brand.