Guardian: New York Times axes editing jobs in favour of '100 more reporters'

The Guardian

New York Times axes editing jobs in favour of '100 more reporters'

Newspaper offers buyouts as it tries to streamline production and will scrap ombudsman role of public editor

Reuters

Thursday 1 June 2017 01.26 BST
Last modified on Thursday 1 June 2017 06.44 BST

New York Times journalists will be offered buyouts in order to reduce the number of editors, the newspaper has said, but newsroom staff could face compulsory layoffs if there are not enough takers.

The paper will also eliminate the in-house watchdog position of public editor as it shifts focus to reader comments.

“Today, our followers on social media and our readers across the internet have come together to collectively serve as a modern watchdog, more vigilant and forceful than one person could ever be,” publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr said in a memo, which was seen by Reuters.
NYT’s publication of leaked Manchester material reveals transatlantic differences


The Times is opening up the majority of its articles to comments from readers, up from 10% currently, according to the memo.

The latest round of buyouts will be mostly offered to editors as the Times seeks to shift the balance of editors to reporters, according to a memo filed with regulators from Dean Baquet, executive editor, and Joe Kahn, managing editor.

“If we do not get enough takers to fund our ambitious plans to reduce the editing staff and hire more reporters, we will unfortunately have to turn to layoffs,” Baquet and Kahn said.

They said that the savings generated by the cuts would be used to hire as many as 100 more journalists.

The cuts to layers of editing were one of the main recommendations in an internal report published in January called 2020 examining how to transform the business for the digital age. Although the Times now claims 2.2 million digital subscribers, it was suffering from the same decline in advertising revenues that is affecting the whole print media.

Liz Spayd, the current public editor, will leave the paper on Friday, according to the memo from Sulzberger.

“The one thing an ombud or public editor can almost always do is hold feet to the fire, and get a real answer out of management,” Margaret Sullivan, former public editor at the New York Times, said in a Twitter post in response to the news.

“The role, by definition, is a burr under the saddle for the powers that be,” she said.

The Times said it expected to take a charge of up to $23m related to workforce reductions, with about $17m to be recorded in the second quarter.

“I think an ombudsman-like role is vital and I find the Times decision disappointing,” Merrill Brown, former editor-in-chief of MSNBC.com and former director at the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University, said via email.
Hello again …

… today we have a small favour to ask. More people than ever are regularly reading the Guardian, but far fewer are paying for it. Advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. And unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can. So we think it’s fair to ask people who visit us often for their help. The Guardian’s independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our perspective matters – because it might well be your perspective, too.

If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps to support it, our future would be much more secure.
Become a supporter
Make a contribution
Topics

    New York Times

    US press and publishing
    news

    Share on LinkedIn
    Share on Pinterest
    Share on Google+

    US Army Awards Abbott $11.3M for Brain Injury Assay 360dx.com

About this Content
comments (71)

Sign in or create your Guardian account to join the discussion.
1 2

    AgainstDarkness
    20m ago
    0 1

    The so called "mainstream media" have started committing suicide a long time ago.

    This is another step to that direction.
    Reply Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Report
    RScully
    45m ago
    1 2

    The NYT and Washington Post -- and also CNN -- are doing a great job, with the help of many enthusiastic leakers.
    The press still looks strong, even as reporters are being arrested or assaulted. Still holding power to account, fending off dictatorship. It's a proud profession. The press and judiciary are the two great pillars of western society that are still in good shape.
    Reply Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Report

most viewed
The Guardian

    home
    world
    sport
    football
    opinion
    culture
    business
    lifestyle
    fashion
    environment
    tech
    travel

all

    UK News
    › Media
    › New York Times

    become a supporter
    make a contribution
    Facebook
    Twitter
    all topics
    all contributors
    solve technical issue
    advertise with us
    work for us
    contact us
    complaints & corrections
    terms & conditions
    privacy policy
    cookie policy
    securedrop

© 2017 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.