On Monday, Semafor reported that The New York Times planned changes to the opinion section.
The changes include (emphasis mine) rethinking the frequency and design of its editorials, the makeup of its editorial board, and its policy on endorsements.
I wonder if the endorsement policy will actually happen:
The Times has also tasked editor Bill Brink and others, including its graphics team, with reimagining what a modern newspaper endorsement should look like. Having pulled back from local endorsements, the paper is now considering whether it should weigh in on more races across the country, including the Virginia governor’s race and the New Jersey governor’s race, as well as the New York mayoral primaries and potentially the general election.
We know The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post won’t do that anymore, though.
Semafor mentioned that opinion editor Kathleen Kingsbury, deputy editor Patrick Healy, and publisher AG Sulzberger might invite other NYT editors to write opinions and even participate on the editorial board.
The move means fewer people only writing opinion pieces.
NYT apparently offered current editorial board members Mara Gay, Brent Staples, Jesse Wegman, and Farah Stockman the chance to accept new positions or accept a buyout package.
Former op-ed columnist Paul Krugman unleashed his anger on Kingsbury and Healy in January, accusing them “of effectively censoring his opinion pieces before he left the newspaper late last year.”
Krugman left when Kingsbury informed him the paper wanted to cut his pieces from two a week to one.
Krugman also claimed the executives targeted him more than other columnists, such as Thomas Friedman, Maureen Dowd, and Gail Collins.
Kingsbury informed Columbia Journalism Review that all the columnists have experienced more editing since he became opinion editor.
Friedman, Dowd, and Collins agreed with Kingsbury.
I only know Mara Gay because she appears on MSNBC frequently, so her name appears on my X timeline. I haven’t read any of her pieces, and I haven’t read any of the other three.
Then again, I don’t care much about opinion pieces because they contain most of the same drivel: Orange Man Bad, capitalism sucks, yay abortion, you’re racist if you don’t like DEI.
“Publishing fewer, higher-quality editorials, the thesis goes, will lead to more audience attention,” according to Semafor.
I agree with David Strom at Hot Air. As much as we criticize the NYT, it is still a profitable new outlet. It helps that it has non-news subscriber bases. I love the Cooking site and The Wirecutter for product reviews. Unlike Strom, I subscribe to The Athletic, but is anyone shocked about that?!
I also agree that chopping up the opinion section is a great idea.
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