Frank Rich: ‘I wanted to hang it up at The Times while I still enjoyed it’

New York Times veteran Frank Rich acknowledges journalism’s current dilemma: “How to make money when information wants to be free.”

But Rich, accepting the Goldsmith Career Award for Excellence in Journalism at Harvard Monday night, said, “The news business will eventually flourish in forms we haven’t yet imagined.”

Frank Rich, right, accepted the annual Goldsmith Career Award from Alex S. Jones, left, Director of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, which sponsors the awards. (Heather McKinnon/Shorenstein Center)

He called the current news landscape more diverse than ever, with entries like Talking Points Memo, Bloomberg News and the Huffington Post.

Rich, who will join New York Magazine in June as an essayist and editor, is “heartened by the smart, brave and determined young people who want to go into journalism. They want to rethink journalism for a new age — and they should.”

The long-time theatre critic and op-ed columnist said he’s leaving the paper because “I wanted to be pushed again” — to write more longer pieces less often.

“I’ve never been interested in so-called ‘power.’ Opinions are cheap. I’m interested in constructing an essay and connecting the dots.”

“I wanted to hang it up at The Times while I still enjoyed it and could still have another act,” Rich said.