I missed the news last week that The Stranger has a new Editor In Chief, Christopher Frizzelle. Similar to his predecessor (promoted to Editorial Director) Dan Savage, Frizzelle is that uber-gay hipster type who got his writing chops in the weeklies circuit rather than the classroom.

(Don't worry, Savage retains his sex column and will remain alpha-gay at The Stranger.)

What I found most interesting about this story, which I got from P-I Art Critic Regina Hackett's blog (tons of interesting reader comments there), is that Frizzelle first worked at Stranger competitor The Seattle Weekly but was fired for leaking information to The Stranger. Frizzelle found refuge at the ever-ethically-sketchy Stranger, which rewarded him the title of book editor in 2003.

This explained the unusually large, but expected jab by the Weekly in this article that reports Frizzelle's promotion and points to no fewer than 36 Frizzelle articles in the last three years that have some basis in The New Yorker, boldly asserting a tone that Frizzelle has no original opinions or commentary.

Gotta love local media competition, like when Seattle P-I staff took a leak on the Seattle Times lawn after the latest JOA agreement.