The New York Times promoted Dean Baquet to the position of executive editor, in an announcement made Wednesday afternoon.“It is an honor to be asked to lead the only newsroom in the country that is actually better than it was a generation ago,” he said, “one that approaches the world with wonder and ambition every day.” He will become the first black executive editor in the NY Times‘ 163 year history.
Most recently Baquet was managing editor at the Times, and earlier in his journalistic career had been the editor of the Los Angeles Times. The 57 year old New Orleans native and an award winning investigative reporter earned a Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for a story about corruption in the Chicago City Council.
“There is no journalist in our newsroom or elsewhere better qualified to take on the responsibilities of executive editor at this time than Dean Baquet,” said Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., the publisher of The New York Times. “He is an exceptional reporter and editor with impeccable news judgment who enjoys the confidence and support of his colleagues around the world and across the organization.”
Baquet fills the slot suddenly and unexpectedly vacated by Jill Abramson, who’d been in charge of the newsroom since 2011. “I’ve loved my run at The Times,” she said in a statement. “I got to work with the best journalists in the world doing so much stand-up journalism.”
-Colby Carrington