Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Apparently The New York Times Does Occasionally Sack People



From the NYT:
The New York Times Replaces Abramson as Executive Editor
By RAVI SOMAIYAMAY 14, 2014

Jill Abramson, the executive editor of The New York Times, is unexpectedly leaving the position and will be replaced by Dean Baquet, the managing editor of the newspaper, the company said on Wednesday.

In announcing the sudden switch to a stunned newsroom, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., the publisher of the paper and the chairman of The New York Times Company, attributed it to “an issue with management in the newsroom.”

Ms. Abramson, 60, a former investigative correspondent and Washington editor who was appointed to lead the newsroom in 2011, was the first woman to serve in the top job...
The New Yorker has the gossipier version here:
...
Fellow-journalists and others scrambled to find out what had happened. Sulzberger had fired Abramson, and he did not try to hide that. In a speech to the newsroom on Wednesday afternoon, he said, “I chose to appoint a new leader of our newsroom because I believe that new leadership will improve some aspects …” Abramson chose not to attend the announcement, and not to pretend that she had volunteered to step down.

As with any such upheaval, there’s a history behind it. Several weeks ago, I’m told, Abramson discovered that her pay and her pension benefits as both executive editor and, before that, as managing editor were considerably less than the pay and pension benefits of Bill Keller, the male editor whom she replaced in both jobs. “She confronted the top brass,” one close associate said, and this may have fed into the management’s narrative that she was “pushy,” a characterization that, for many, has an inescapably gendered aspect.

...
A third issue surfaced, too: Abramson was pushing to hire a deputy managing editor to oversee the digital side of the Times. She believed that she had the support of Sulzberger and Thompson to recruit this deputy, and her supporters say that the plan was for the person in this position to report to Baquet. Baquet is a popular and respected figure in the newsroom, and he had appeared, for the most part, to get along with Abramson. (I was told, however, that, at a recent dinner with Sulzberger, Baquet said he found her hard to work with.)
...
To: Mr. Dean Baquet
Re: Sacking people

Dear Mr. Baquet,
I have a list.
Sincerely,

driftglass

12 comments:

AaroninTW said...

I thought only foreign correspondents who actually gather news were on their chopping block.
Now for more news on the riots in Vietnam, we turn to our Tokyo bureau chief cause, ya know... Asia.

Redhand said...

I saw articles long before this discussing how difficult Jill Abramson was to work with, so on that level I am not surprised.

Nor, frankly, am I surprised that there was a compensation disparity between Keller and her. I am sure that Pinch Sulzberger was too stupid to have seen what a spring-gun in the house he set for himself when he shoved Jill out the door, with that pay disparity in place.

We may well see a headline-catching lawsuit by Abramson against the NYT alleging gender discrimination in pay and a retaliatory termination for complaining. The defense is likely to be the old chestnut of management prerogatives to hire/fire a top executive, regardless of gender.

My sense is that Pinch has the better argument under employment law, but that doesn't mean I think he's a good Steward of the Grey Lady. Quite the contrary.

rickstersherpa@msn.com said...

Gee, I don't see what Jill has to lose in suing, and the timing of her termination after complaining about her pay will make it perfect. It will also allow Conservatives huge chortles when the Times writes an Op-Ed about gender pay inequity and discrimination.

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

The people responsible for the sacking of the editorial staff, have been sacked.

Horace Boothroyd III said...

I must confess, I grit my teeth when I contemplate worker protections, won at such cost by the despised labor unions, benefiting an insufficiently privileged member of the elites. Lilly Ledbetter did not have a personal attorney who could make discreet inquiries.

Cirze said...

Right.

As long as we all know it's really about the news.

Content.

Meh.

Thanks for the true coverage of the times.

I wonder which guy won the pool.

In announcing the sudden switch to a stunned newsroom, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., the publisher of the paper and the chairman of The New York Times Company, attributed it to “an issue with management in the newsroom.”

Kathleen said...

She pissed off the wrong person somehow. Or there is a possible new "scandal" about to break? Usually bullying behavior by management is rewarded. Journalists especially seem to worship bullies (witness slobbering over Snowald).

Anonymous said...

He's got 'em on the list — he's got 'em on the list;
And they'll none of 'em be missed — they'll none of 'em be missed.

Chris Landee

Chris Landee said...

He's got 'em on the list — he's got 'em on the list;
And they'll none of 'em be missed — they'll none of 'em be missed.

RoninMichigan said...

As you have taught us time and time again DG, 'There is a club and we are not in it'.

I feel no guilt for having no sympathy for the predicament these members have find themselves in publicly nor privately. Fuck'em!

Anonymous said...

The NYT raises revenues and gets eight Pulitzers on her watch and she suddenly gets canned over "personality differences?" In the immortal words of HOLLYWOOD SHUFFLE's "Sneakin' Into The Movies" guys, that's bullshit.

Anonymous said...

And I can't wait to see the book she does on this.