For a news organization such as Politico to run a piece focused so tightly on Abramson's personality is disappointing. It might have highlighted the fact she has just had the most successful week of her professional life. Her news organization picked up four Pulitzer Prizes, the third highest haul in the Times's history, and the coverage of the Boston bombings was, by wide acknowledgment, exceptionally good, when others were rocky and error-strewn.
Dylan Byers' big "Turbulence at The Times" story, about the news organization under Executive Editor Jill Abramson's leadership, has the look and feel of world-beating Politico scoop.
It mixes anonymously voiced insider accounts with a few protesting on-the-record sources to paint a picture of a newsroom so buffeted by personality conflicts that it just barely won four Pulitzer Prizes and calmly and accurately guided readers through the Boston bombings.
The festering conflict at the heart of all this triumph? Executive Editor Jill Abramson.
In recent months, Abramson has become a source of widespread frustration and anxiety within the Times newsroom. More than a dozen current and former members of the editorial staff, all of whom spoke to POLITICO on the condition of anonymity, described her as stubborn and condescending, saying they found her difficult to work with.
In an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson said the paper is doing well and changing:
Things are looking up at The New York Times. The newspaper isn’t going anywhere. We’re making the digital transition, I believe, very successfully. And some of the things that you’re hugging in the newspaper, even more powerfully displayed and more informative on the Web and on our apps. We have a robust readership of people who feel getting home delivery of the print New York Times is still essential to their day and my job is to try to keep it that way. (more…)
Forbes
News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch is No. 24 on Forbes' new list of the 70 most powerful people in the world. New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson is No. 64. The blurb for Abramson reads, "Bloggers come, bloggers go, but the Gray Lady, run for the first time by a lady, still sets the terms of the global debate." The overall prestige of news leaders seems to be falling, though. Last year's list had Murdoch at No. 13 and then-NYT editor Bill Keller at No. 50. Murdoch and Abramson are the only news media figures on the list, otherwise dominated by many world political leaders and corporate CEOs. || Earlier: In August, Forbes placed Abramson at No. 12 on its list of most powerful women, just behind Lady Gaga.
Politico.com | Women's Wear Daily
C-SPAN has posted 57 seconds of Brian Lamb's interview with Jill Abramson, which will air on Oct. 30. The New York Times executive editor is asked: What's the one thing you'd change at the paper. Keach Hagey transcribes her response:
I don't want every story to be 1,800 words. I think in general, we have a lot of long stories that need to be long, things like Amy Harmon's profile of a young adult with autism, which you know was very very long, but worth every word. There is a certain lack of discipline sometimes. A point is repeated too many times in a story or there are three quotes making the same point where one would do and I'd like to see a variety of story lines.
In other Times news, John Koblin did some quick math and figured out that about 43,000 people bought a subscription to the Times' Web site in the third quarter. That, he says, "suggests that there’s still some demand for access to the Times Web site, but that it has slowed considerably. It also leads to the bigger question as to whether the demand for paid readership to its site is beginning, however slowly, to stall out."
New Yorker
Ken Auletta's thorough profile of New York Times' current executive editor Jill Abramson includes a deep look back at her relationship with former executive editor Howell Raines.
He says he knew that each candidate was a proponent of “good journalism,” so a decisive factor would be the person’s “willingness and ability to push us down the digital road.”
... She composed a memorandum outlining her mission, if she should get the job. She recalls writing that she would maintain the paper’s “core mission” of producing excellent journalism. Unlike Howell Raines, who wanted to transform the newsroom, Abramson preached newsroom continuity. She would create a new leadership team with “some new people.” But her real innovations, she vowed, would be digital.
That’s what Sulzberger wanted to hear. He told me that he needed an editor who understood “the move from search to social and what that means for us. Increasingly, people are learning where they want to go, what they want to consume, how they want to engage with news or games or a variety of different things from each other.” As he weighed the three candidates, people in whom he confided say, he saw negatives in each.
He did not pursue Baron, because he had been outside the Times for a lengthy period. Dean Baquet, who may be the most popular editor in the newsroom, did not have digital experience, and there were questions about his patience for managing the newsroom and its budget. As for Abramson, there were concerns about her assertiveness and whether it would stifle discussion and dissent, and about her presentation skills, including her voice.
MarketWatch | Capital New York
At a meet and greet for media reporters, new New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson spoke with Jon Friedman about her experience on Twitter:
“I don’t keep up with Twitter all day long. I am just a beginner. My kids tell me how terrible my Tweets are. They give me a Twitter (grade of) F.”
Abramson says she often reads the Times on her iPad app in the early morning and described herself as a "culture vulture" and a "political junkie." When asked "What do you worry about?" the paper's first female editor had this to say:
Abramson gave an answer I’d never heard before: “I don’t” worry, she shot back with a weary smile. “The last thing I do every night is to take my dog” — a golden retriever, for you dog lovers — “for a long walk, of, say, 45 minutes. What is there to worry about when New York City is so gorgeous?”
Joe Pompeo, who was also at the Houndstooth Pub, uncovered a few of her concerns:
She said that she'd spent the summer in a state of anticipatory worry; since Sept. 6, when she started in the role, some of that insecurity has faded. But not all.
“I want to do well in this job,” she said, “and sometimes I worry that I won’t.”
Journal-isms
When New York Times Public Editor Arthur Brisbane asked Executive Editor Jill Abramson whether the public will see a change now that a woman is running the Times, Abramson said: "The idea that women journalists bring a different taste in stories or sensibility isn't true." The statement has stirred debate among some female journalists who say that women do have different perspectives and experiences that shape the way they approach coverage. Megan Kamerick, president of the Journalism & Women Symposium, said she disagrees with Abramson. "Women do have different experiences than men to bring to a situation," she told Journal-isms' Richard Prince. "The Global Media Monitoring Report on Women found that stories by female reporters contain more female subjects than stories by male reporters and are more likely to challenge stereotypes as well."
Women's Wear Daily
Former New York Times Magazine editor Gerry Marzorati and former metro editor Susan Edgerley lost their title of assistant managing editor and have been given new tasks, reports John Koblin. Marzorati's new title is editor at large, and his chief responsibility will be to work with the newsroom to help come up with news-analysis stories for the Sunday Review section. He'll also continue to pursue digital initiatives. "Times sources said that it was seen as a foregone conclusion for the last week that he would be removed from the masthead," writes Koblin. As for Edgerley (named an assistant managing editor in 2006), "she will work with me to organize parts of my day so that I can live up to my promise to get around the newsroom more, help me schedule frequent drop-ins at department meetings and brown bags,” says Times executive editor Jill Abramson. || PLUS: Who will replace Sam Sifton -- named national editor on Tuesday -- as restaurant critic? Pete Wells? Brett Anderson? || Gothamist.com: Maybe they should bring back William Grimes.
Romenesko+ Memos
"This is a start, explaining some changed roles," Jill Abramson writes on her first day as Times executive editor. "Some leaders will continue in the same roles, because they’ve made themselves irreplaceable, at least to
us rookies in our first year. Others are considering special assignments that we deem critical for Year One." From her memo:
Dean Baquet, as Managing Editor for News, will lead our news
report across all subjects and platforms. ...
Rick Berke will oversee the Features departments and weekly
sections, which all of you know are hugely important to me and our
future. ...
Susan Chira will work closely with Dean and me in leading the
news report, across all platforms. ...
John Geddes has delighted me by agreeing to add a new focus to
his role as Managing Editor for Operations. ...
Jim Roberts has granted my wish that once again he should help
oversee our digital efforts as assistant managing editor, working
closely with John.
