NY Observer > The New York Times

Times A.M.E. Bill Schmidt Transfers to International Herald Tribune

John Koblin — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:36:21 -0400

Bill Schmidt, an assistant managing editor and 27-year New York Times veteran, is moving to the International Herald Tribune to become the paper's "Editor, Global editions."

Mr. Schmidt is the administration-man of the Times newsroom—the one who sends out emails reminding reporters to file their expenses—and he'll have a similar, if expanded, role at The Times' sister publication. Bill Keller writes in a memo, "He will be, in effect, the chief operating officer of the Trib newsroom, the principle liaison with the publisher and with the Executive Editor of The Times."

Memo after the jump: read more »

Sexton Says: 'Love Jersey'

John Koblin — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:17:06 -0400

The New York Times' Metro report will write more about food and sex than ever and it will write less about New Jersey than it has in years. This news officially comes in response to a reader's inquiry to Metro editor Joe Sexton: "Do you cover Jersey anymore?" Sexton's response in today's nytimes.com Q &A: "Ouch. But Jersey? Love Jersey."

After explaining that the Times' stellar local reporter David Kocieniewski would stay on the Jersey beat—presumably when Mr. Sexton isn't busy assigning him to investigative pieces on Charlie Rangel's real-estate ownership—he lays out Metro's future "pledge" to Jersey, Connecticut, Westchester and Long Island now that the bureaus have been emptied out. read more »

Is The Times Metro Section Planning a Sex Beat?

John Koblin — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:25:37 -0400

When The New York Times Metro section reorganized earlier this year—one staffer described it as "retrenchment"—and killed off the regional bureaus in favor of more city-centric beats, one senior newsroom source told The Observer that there was an idea for a sex beat for Metro.

In a Q&A on nytimes.com today, Joe Sexton (hold your jokes please!) seems to confirm that.

When answering a question about Metro's new mission, Mr. Sexton said: "Jim Dwyer, our gifted About New York columnist, likes to say there are three great, inextinguishable human needs: food, sex and stories. We're going to keep the stories coming, likely including many about food and sex (don't wince yet!)"

Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. on Rupert Murdoch: Competitors 'Can't Steal Our Readers'

John Koblin — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:14:21 -0400

Ad Age scored an extremely rare interview with Arthur Sulzberger Jr. today. It's good placement for The New York Times publisher and chairman: his company is days away from releasing second-quarter earnings results, which aren't looking particularly great. Some good press is a welcome event since this year has arguably been one of Mr. Sulzberger's most challenging as publisher. The paper lost money last quarter; he's getting divorced from his wife; the paper experienced lay offs in the newsroom for the first time.

But you won't find any mention of the divorce in the profile, and only a small bit on the company's terrible year. read more »

Report: Times Spikes McCain Iraq Editorial [Update]

Matt Haber — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:38:12 -0400

Last week presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama contributed an op-ed to The New York Times headlined "My Plan for Iraq."

In it, Senator Obama wrote:

Unlike Senator John McCain, I opposed the war in Iraq before it began, and would end it as president. I believed it was a grave mistake to allow ourselves to be distracted from the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban by invading a country that posed no imminent threat and had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks.

According to The Drudge Report, Mr. Obama's Republican rival, Senator John McCain, attempted to file a rebuttal but didn't make it past The Times editorial board. read more »

Black and White, Red All Over: Is 2008 the Worst Year in Modern Newspaper History?

John Koblin — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 08:08:19 -0400

On Wednesday morning at 11 a.m., Arthur Sulzberger and Janet Robinson will be managing a conference call that, from the looks of it, won't be much fun. They'll be reporting The New York Times Company's second-quarter earnings. Last time they did one of quarterly earnings calls, The Times reported big losses; there was a plan to cut 100 newsroom jobs, some through straight-up layoffs rather than superannuation and retirement deals. And in the past few weeks, it's only gotten worse: the company's stock has fallen to a decade low, and tumbled more than 15 percent in just this month. read more »

Times vs. Journal Digital Battle Royale! Landman Says WSJ Has Done 'Nothing' With Its Web Site

John Koblin — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:43:43 -0400

It's a late, sleepy summer Friday, but New York Times online editor Jon Landman has some choice words for Rupert Murdoch, Robert Thomson and The Wall Street Journal's online editor, Alan Murray, this afternoon.

Well, technically speaking, he doesn't name any of those people in his weekly memo, or the paper itself, but in his weekly briefing designed to discuss accomplishments for nytimes.com, he comes out swinging! Namely, he says wsj.com has accomplished nothing!

As Mr.Landman writes:

There's some financial newspaper out there, on Wall Street or maybe in midtown, we aren't sure. There's new ownership, it seems, some rich guy who says he wants his paper to be more like ours. read more »

Times Pitches Tents

Dana Rubinstein — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:24:36 -0400

Merely a coincidence, or does The New York Times editorial staff foresee an imminent real estate apocalypse?

For the second time this week, The Times has run a story about portable, one-man tents (the better to shelter us when the city comes to resemble Cormac McCarthy's The Road).

Two days ago, the paper's business section reported on the so-called "Mini Motel," a one-man tent complete with air mattress, night light and alarm clock for those unlucky souls marooned at O'Hare with no hotel voucher to temper the inconvenience.

Today, the paper ran a story on the latest technologies in one-man tents -- not for camping inside transit hubs, but for camping outdoors. read more »

New York Times Company Stock Plunges 15 Percent in One Week

John Koblin — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:39:12 -0400

NYT Co. stock took another nosedive today, dropping 2.73 percent to $12.85. That means in the last week, Times Company stock has fallen $2.21, or 15 percent.

The big hit came after Craig Huber, an analyst at Lehman Brothers, wrote to investors last week: "We continue to think the board and management would think long and hard about selling assets and repurchasing shares again until it gets a much better handle on where the fundamentals of the newspaper industry are going."

The Newspaper Industry's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day Continues

Matt Haber — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 10:33:33 -0400

As you may already know, yesterday was a dark day for the newspaper industry: Layoffs at The Los Angeles Times; buyouts at The Wall Street Journal; the departure of The Chicago Times' editor-in-chief; The New York Times' stock price dipped to a decade-low as shares of McClatchy, Gannett, and News, Corporation also took hits.

Today, the hits just keep on coming. Some lowlights after the jump: read more »