Washington Post executive stepping down

WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- The Washington Post's managing editor announced Monday he is stepping down this week after four years on the job.

Philip Bennett, 49, was the newspaper's No. 2 news executive.

Bennett said he had "a feeling that I'd been running for a long time as fast as I could go." He also said the appointment of Marcus Brauchli as the paper's executive editor last summer "made me think this was a good time to do something new."

The newspaper reported that Bennett was a candidate for the top job after Leonard Downie Jr. announced that he was leaving the position after 17 years. Post Publisher Katharine Weymouth chose Brauchli, a former editor of the Wall Street Journal, over Bennett

"I really thought it would not be appropriate for me to be managing editor of the paper and be looking for a new job," he was quoted as saying. "This is such an all-consuming job I felt I couldn't plot my next step until I let go of this."