The Managing Board of the Washington Square News is elated to announce it has elected Arnav Binaykia as editor-in-chief for the 2022-23 school year.

Binaykia, a 21-year-old from Mumbai, India, was most recently a deputy managing editor at WSN. He takes over from Alex Tey, whose term ends in May after leading a team of editors and reporters in reshaping WSN into a digital-first publication and making its journalism more accessible to readers. The Board selected Binaykia after he outlined his plans to set and meet ambitious editorial goals and collaborate more closely with the paper’s business staff.

“Arnav came to the Board with a clear view of the paper’s immediate and long-term needs, and smart plans for doing great journalism while strengthening the paper as it enters its 50th year,” said Jane C. Timm, chairman of the Managing Board of the Washington Square News, senior reporter at NBC News and former WSN reporter.

“For 50 years, WSN has been an exemplar of the impact student journalism can have, by providing invaluable local reporting, training generations of extraordinary journalists and holding a multi-billion-dollar institution accountable,” Binaykia said. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to continue this legacy, cement our future as a digital publication and better serve our community of readers.”

“Arnav’s driven approach and breadth of journalistic skills are exactly what WSN needs,” Tey said. “He is the ideal figure to continue elevating WSN’s work.”

Binaykia becomes editor-in-chief at the end of the spring 2022 semester and will begin building the newsroom leadership team ahead of the start of the next school year. He will work closely with Catherine Chen, whom the Board has selected as the paper’s next business manager.

Chen was hired after pitching the Board on her vision for developing the business team’s staff and modernizing WSN’s revenue streams. She takes over from Yejin Chang, who guided WSN through the financial hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As editor-in-chief, Binaykia immediately joins Tey, Chen and Chang on the independent board of the Washington Square News, which comprises four alumni, the editor-in-chief, a second editorial staffer, the business manager, a second business staffer, the outgoing editor-in-chief and outgoing business manager.

The WSN Managing Board has also appointed Russell Berman to serve as adviser to the editorial and business staff. Berman is a staff writer at The Atlantic who served as WSN’s editor-in-chief in fall 2003.

For students interested in joining the WSN staff:

Students interested in joining WSN’s editorial staff should fill out this interest form to be notified when new opportunities are posted in the coming weeks. WSN seeks students interested in reporting, editing, commentary, feature-length writing, web design, video, photography and more.

To contact the board, email [email protected].

To contact Arnav Binaykia, email [email protected].