Pulitzer Prize-winning executive editor, 58, QUITS Philadelphia newspaper after a 20-year stint following staff uproar over 'Buildings Matter, Too' headline

The Philadelphia Inquirer's top editor is resigning after an uproar over a headline lamenting damage to businesses amid turbulent prot...

The Philadelphia Inquirer's top editor is resigning after an uproar over a headline lamenting damage to businesses amid turbulent protests denouncing police brutality against people of color.

The newspaper announced Saturday that Stan Wischnowski, 58, was stepping down as senior vice president and executive editor.

The Inquirer had apologized for a 'horribly wrong' decision to use the headline, 'Buildings Matter, Too,' on a column Tuesday about looting and vandalism on the margins of protests of George Floyd's death in Minneapolis at the hands of a white police officer.

The backlash came as The New York Times was widely criticized for publishing an opinion piece by Senator Tom Cotton advocating the use of federal troops to quell the protests.

About 30 members of the Inquirer's 210-member editorial staff called in sick earlier this week, and black staff members angrily condemned the headline. 

It appeared over an article by architecture critic Inga Saffron, who worried that buildings damaged in violence over the past week could 'leave a gaping hole in the heart of Philadelphia.'

Saffron on Saturday tweeted: 'I know it was the headline on my story that sparked the outpouring of outrage and frustration about the insufficient number of journalists of color at the Inquirer, but I fully support the the change that is needed to create an equitable newsroom.'

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The Inquirer newsroom was in an uproar after the paper published an article by architecture critic Inga Saffron on Tuesday. The story's headline, 'Buildings Matter, Too,' provoked outrage 

Saffron gave a statement to DailyMail.com which read: 'Stan's decision to resign from the Inquirer comes after an enormously difficult and painful week at the Inquirer. 

'The placement of an insensitive headline over my column was the catalyst for out-pouring of bottled-up feelings about the lack of black and brown journalists in the newsroom and deep concerns about other diversity issues. 

'But while these events have been conflated with Stan's departure, we really don't know all the reasons why he chose to leave now.' 

The Inquirer drew fresh scorn after it replaced that headline online with one that read, 'Black Lives Matter. Do Buildings?' 

Eventually, the newspaper settled on 'Damaging buildings disproportionately hurt the people protesters are trying to uplift.'

The Inquirer published an apology from senior editors. 

Publisher and CEO Lisa Hughes said in a memo to staff that the headline was 'offensive and inappropriate' and said the newspaper needed a more diverse workforce.

Wischnowski had worked at the Inquirer for 20 years and was editor when the paper won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for an in-depth investigation into violence within Philadelphia schools.

He will formally leave the newspaper June 12. Hughes did not immediately name a successor.

On Twitter, there were those who supported the resignation, saying that journalists 'are either part of the problem or part of the solution'

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Another Twitter user wrote that Wischnowski's resignation was an 'indicator that protests, boycotts, & walkouts motivate change'

Others, however, criticized the resignation as a 'travesty.' Joe Concha, a media critic for The Hill, tweeted: 'Stan Wischnowski worked there for 20 years. Won a Pulitzer. First the NYT folds on the Cotton op-ed, now this. Newsrooms are increasingly being dictated by woke staffers & online mobs. Diversity of thought be damned.'

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Another Twitter user wrote: 'Why would you force [Wischnowski] to resign for writing a factual article? The truth isn't always pretty. Buildings do matter. They house citizens and the livelihood of business owners. I hope that you reconsider this decision because it wasn't the right one'

Some observers said the resignation and the Cotton-New York Times controversy sent a chilling message that journalists ought to be careful of writing content that may offend others lest they lose their jobs.

'This is a travesty,' Joe Concha, a media critic for The Hill, tweeted. 

'Stan Wischnowski worked there for 20 years. Won a Pulitzer. 

'First the NYT folds on the Cotton op-ed, now this. Newsrooms are increasingly being dictated by woke staffers & online mobs. 

'Diversity of thought be damned.' 

Another Twitter user wrote: 'Why would you force [Wischnowski] to resign for writing a factual article? The truth isn't always pretty. 

'Buildings do matter. They house citizens and the livelihood of business owners. 

'I hope that you reconsider this decision because it wasn't the right one.' 

Others, however, cheered the resignation.

'America in a nutshell,' tweeted one Twitter user. 

'You are either part of the problem or part of the solution. 

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Demonstrators raise their fists in front of City Hall in Philadelphia on Saturday, where hundreds of thousands took to the streets to protest the police-involved death of George Floyd, the 46-year-old black man who died in the custody of Minneapolis police on May 25

'If you don’t know which one you are, you ARE the problem.'

Another Twitter user wrote that Wischnowski's resignation was an 'indicator that protests, boycotts, & walkouts motivate change. 

'Any positive social change requires professionals in any field with the potential to damage or subvert that positive change to move beyond an apolitical professional ethic or professionalism, putting people first.'