New York Times | The New York Observer

Go Jodi Go! Times' Kantor Scores Seven Figures From Little, Brown For Obama Book

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:08:15 -0500

New York Times Washington correspondent Jodi Kantor has secured a stunning seven-figure book deal this week with Little, Brown to write a volume on the Obamas.

The deal was the result of a heated citywide auction, and was brokered by independent lit agent Elyse Cheney. It comes on the heels of the 34-year-old reporter’s New York Times Magazine cover story on the Obamas’ marriage, which argued that “the Obamas mix politics and romance in a...

Times Media Desk May Be Headed for Small Screen

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:37:22 -0500

Our favorite humble hometown reporters might be on the verge of TV stardom!

A documentary filmmaker has hit the Times Tower with camera in tow and is planning to make a movie focused on the Times media desk.

“I think that these writers have something invested in their stories that is sort of unique compared to what it would have been like five years ago,” said Andrew Rossi, the filmmaker, who produced...

Sun's Seeley to Head New, New York–Centric Section at WSJ

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:45:22 -0500

Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal drafted plans for a New York–only culture section. It didn’t take long for that project to be shelved, and Rupert Murdoch’s Journal decided to take on the city itself—with a New York–only news section that will cover everything you’d expect from a local newspaper: politics, news, sports and, yes, culture.

“They want to do everything,” said one source familiar with the project.

Inside sources...

Times Interactive Team Makes First Female Hire

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:38:00 -0500

The New York Times’ interactive news technologies team has hired a new developer and … it’s a girl! Well, woman, really. Her name is Jacqui Maher and her first day on the job is Nov. 4.

This is the 10-person team’s first and (so far) only female hire.

Software and Web development is a male-dominated field at The Times and everywhere else, editor Aron Pilhofer told The Observer. “It is a serious...

Wall Street Journal Goes Local

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:46:48 -0500

The Wall Street Journal will be hiring a small metro staff, says Media Decoder. The local news coverage would be part of The Journal's effort to create a New York edition, first reported here almost two months ago as a project that was focused mostly on increased arts coverage.

Beyond that, writes Richard Perez-Pena, it "reflects Rupert Murdoch's mandate to make The Journal more of a general-interest newspaper, and a more direct competitor to The...

Times: Burrito Dates No Longer Shameful

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:34:13 -0400

The Times reports today that some people do not eat fancy foods on dates. “It’s awkward to have somebody spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on dinner before you really know that you like them,” said one New Yorker with whom Melena Ryzik spoke.

Ryzik--who tends to get saddled with the unenviable task of explaining youngish-person things to the Times reader--recounts the many non-filet-mignon foods now being eaten on dates: burgers, pizza, fried chicken, noodles....

Times Newsroom: The Largest Ship on the Seas

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:31:02 -0400

In today's paper, John Koblin takes a look at the buyout package distributed to reporters and writes a breakdown of the Times newsroom.

So what surprised people most?

Jim Romanesko notes the 18 critics in the Culture department.

Mediaite wonders why an international paper needs 103 people in its Metro section.

And the 14 Book Review editors are blowing Choire Sicha's mind:

I'm pretty sure me and Maud and Lizzie and Mark Greif and a couple interns could get...

Times Buyout Package Reveals More than Expected

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:09:04 -0400

Just over a week ago, every person in the Times newsroom was sent out a buyout package via UPS Next Day Air. If 100 staffers don’t raise their hands by Dec. 7, there will be layoffs.

We got our hands on one of the thickish brown envelopes that went to employees’ homes. In addition to revealing the actual details of the buyout offer—generally, three weeks pay per year of service and up to two...

Arthur Sulzberger Explains the Titanic Fallacy

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:59:09 -0400

Last night, at a benefit for the News Literacy Project, New York magazine's Jada Yuan asked Arthur Sulzberger Jr. about the future of print journalism.

"The best analogy I can think of is, have you ever heard of the Titanic Fallacy?" he responded.

Comparing your business to the Titanic would not seem to be good policy. But--his point is not as simple as that:

"Even if the Titanic came in safely to New York Harbor, it was...

Jayson Blair on 'Lessons Learned'

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:41:37 -0400

Shorthand-for-journalistic-disgrace Jayson Blair will be delivering the featured address at Washington and Lee University's Journalism Ethics Institute next Friday, Oct. 30.

Washington and Lee's Edward Wasserman, Knight Professor of Journalism Ethics, called the selection "definitely a departure for us." He explained:

When I approached him with the invitation, he said that although he has not spoken publicly about the affair that led to his dismissal from The New York Times, this might be the right time...

New Nonprofit Helps Times Take Chicago

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:06:24 -0400

A week after the Times introduced the Bay Area Report, they're firming up plans for another local edition in Chicago.

The paper's San Francisco local coverage is run largely by Times people, with talk of transferring control eventually to local groups, like a UC-Berkeley/KQED/Warren Hellman nonprofit. But it looks like the Chicago venture will be produced from the start working closely with a nonprofit group. According to the Chicago News Cooperative's inaugural press release:

CNC journalists...

Carr Gives Way to a New Carpetblogger

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:58:30 -0400

There's a new Carpetbagger in town: as of this winter, New York Times media columnist David Carr will no longer be handling the Carpetbagger blog he created four years ago (and has led every movie-award season since).

Taking over will be Melena Ryzik, whose UrbanEye emails are the sparrow's song I awake to each morning. Ryzik also does cultural reporting and videos for the Times Web site.

This year's incarnation of the Carpetbagger will pick up...

'Not a Good Day'

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:47:11 -0400

John Koblin reports that The New York Times plans to cut 100 jobs from its 1,250 person newsroom by the end of the year.

Staff members were informed via email just before 2:30 this afternoon, and are receiving the news in person at a 2:45 meeting.

"I doubt that anyone is shocked by the fact of this, but it is happening sooner than anyone anticipated," said Bill Keller in the email (read the rest in Koblin's...

New York Times Cutting 100 Newsroom Jobs

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:53:04 -0400

The New York Times is cutting 100 jobs by the end of the year, the Times' editor Bill Keller just announced to the staff via email.

"This is not a good day," said John Geddes, the paper's managing editor to the assembled staff in the newsroom after reading Mr. Keller's email aloud (Mr. Keller wasn't at work today because he's sick).

The staff met with Jill Abramson and managing editor John Geddes to hear the news in...

Paterson Responds to the Times

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:22:18 -0400

ALBANY— The New York Times greeted lawmakers this morning with a blistering editorial, "Fed Up With Albany," calling the political scene in the state a "swamp of intrigue and corruption," a "monster," and a "national embarrassment" before it finished its first paragraph.

The Times also described David Paterson as "weak and ineffective." The paper has previously called on Paterson to announce he will not run in 2010. Paterson was asked about the dressing down...

Foursquare Gets the Times Treatment

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:13:26 -0400

Foursquare, the location-based mobile application that the Observer has featured several times, has (finally!) earned a profile in the New York Times.

As co-creator Dennis Crowley told us in July, Foursquare's next step was to "aim past the nerds." Mr. Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai might get what they want with a Times article, which will reach a widespread, mainstream readership. But is that what its users want? According to Jenna Wortham's piece, "underground status is...

Times Announces Bay Area Expansion

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:30:38 -0400

Tomorrow the Times will introduce an expanded San Francisco metro section. Additional pages will run on Fridays and Sundays, and next week the Times will launch a Bay Area blog:

“At a time when so many news organizations are in a forced retreat, it’s exciting to be part of a venture that has set out to build more and better news...

Murdoch and the AP Hate Them, but Aggregators Are Still All the Rage

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:34:51 -0400

Last Friday, at the World Media Summit in Beijing, chief executive of the Associated Press Tom Curley and News Corp's papa lion Rupert Murdoch continued to growl at aggregators like Google News, YouTube and Wikipedia for "stealing" their content.

"We will no longer tolerate the disconnect between people who devote themselves—at great human and economic cost—to gathering news of public interest and those who profit from it without supporting it," Mr. Curley said, according...

In New Jersey, Papers Bleed but Survive

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:45:59 -0400

One year ago, the Newhouses were threatening to close down their treasured jewel, The Star-Ledger, unless the paper’s union made a series of concessions, which included cutting the newsroom by 40 percent.

They got what they wanted, and it seemed like things could go back to normal, albeit with fewer deckhands on the ship.

Yet on Monday, George Arwady, the publisher of the The Star-Ledger, wrote in a memo to staff that “the...

Heffernan Proposes Self as Sontag of the Internet

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:23:14 -0400

The New York Times’ Virginia Heffernan has a book proposal out to publishers just in time for the Frankfurt Book Fair, via her literary agent, John Brockman. The former Times TV critic wants to write about her second love, the Internet, which she has covered for The Times Magazine since 2007 in a column called the Medium.

In the proposal, a copy of which was obtained by the Transom, Ms. Heffernan’s book...

Times Metro Desk Cancels All Newspaper, Magazine Subscriptions

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:09:58 -0400

The metro desk at the Times was informed today that all magazine and newspaper subscriptions have been canceled. If reporters want to check out the competition in the Post or the News, they can buy their own copies. The reason is obviously to save money, and the Times claims it can put the saved money toward freelancers.

Here's the memo sent to the metro staff by metro administrative manager Gloria Bell, (Take a look how quick-to-the-point...

Times Goes West

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:32:51 -0400

The Times plans to start publishing local editions in Chicago and other metropolitan areas as well as the San Francisco Bay Area, says the paper's Media Decoder blog. Local organizations would work with the company to produce the new editions:

Plans for the San Francisco edition call for adding to the paper, twice a week, two additional pages of news about northern California. At first, the added content will be produced by The Times’ own...

Lunch Ladies and Gourmets: The Times Feels Your Pain

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:18:24 -0400

The politically conscious and pleasure-seeking sides of our current food obsession aren't necessarily at odds--just ask Alice Waters.

But they do sometimes yield uncomfortable incongruities. Take today's New York Times Dining section.

One of the page's top stories ("Schools' Toughest Test: Cooking") describes the movement to replace reheating with actual cooking in New York's public school cafeterias. That is, to produce foodie-approved free lunches in the sort of environment where uncooked meat is forbidden and "grape...

Pay Talks Go On (and On) at the Times

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:24:41 -0400

Bill Keller says there's "no clear evidence" that a web site pay model can save newspapers. But at this point, Times sources tell the Observer, the real question isn't whether to charge but how to charge. Per article? Based on a metering system? A membership system?

From John Koblin's story:

“In the end, I think it will come down to a gut call about what we think the audience will accept and how we think...

William Safire: Better Than Glenn Beck

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:34:02 -0400

On Tuesday, we called up a few liberal writers to get their take on former Times columnist William Safire, who died on Sunday at the age of 79. The consensus? Politically distasteful, but a first-rate sparring partner!

“He had a healthy respect for political give-and-take, he loved language and he was a worthy adversary for liberals,” said Eric Alterman, the writer and professor. “It’s because he took the ideas of the other side...

Decision On Times Pay Model Will Come From the Gut

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:33:22 -0400

On Wednesday, Sept. 30, Arthur Sulzberger will host his annual “State of The Times” meeting for Times employees, which is generally a sleepy and awkward affair with lots of corporate cheerleading. (Last year, Mr. Sulzberger started the proceedings by playing a slideshow touting all of the paper’s accomplishments with Coldplay’s “Clocks” playing in the background. When the song ended, in lieu of applause, there was a deadly silence.)

But for this year’s meeting, there’s...

Crime Waves: Polanski, Monserrate

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:44:07 -0400

Roman Polanski was arrested this weekend in Switzerland on 1977 charges that he had sex with a 13-yeal-old girl; "why he would suddenly be arrested after flying in and out of Zurich without trouble for years flummoxed his Hollywood friends," says the Times. The Post says that Swiss authorities acted on a provisional arrest warrant from the Los Angeles District Attorney, and says that the French were not merely flummoxed but shocked:

"I think this...

New York Times to the Rescue?

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:18:30 -0400

San Francisco financier Warren Hellman wants to fill the holes in Bay Area news coverage left by the decline of local papers, and the New York Times (though not exactly sitting pretty itself) may help. The Hellman Family Foundation would put $5 million into the project, reports the Silicon Valley Business Journal.

Describing the proposed Bay Area News Project, Noelle Leca of public broadcaster KQED said:

The plan is to create a multi-media group that will...

Times Poaches Pulitzer Winner Shadid From Washington Post

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 19:52:38 -0400

Hiring freeze be damned! The New York Times has poached The Washington Post’s celebrated Mideast correspondent, Anthony Shadid.

“I have license to hire when there are extraordinary opportunities or essential jobs we can’t fill from within,” said executive editor Bill Keller to Off the Record in an email. “This meets anyone’s test of an extraordinary opportunity.”

Mr. Shadid told Editor & Publisher’s Joe Strupp, who broke the news of the hire, that he...

But Not a Drop to Drink: The Threat to America’s Drinking Water

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:41:52 -0400

For those of us who worked closely with environmental professionals during the eight years of the Bush Administration, we know that it was a time of declining resources and reduced political support for environmental regulation. It was demoralizing and more than a little scary. Last weekend an excellent piece of environmental reporting by the New York Times writer Charles Duhigg highlighted declining drinking water quality throughout the United States. While New York City’s drinking...

The New York Times Salesman

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:15:55 -0400

Outside Court 11, there are plenty of people waiting to get a peek at Gilles Simon and Thomaz Bellucci, and the line to the American Express kiosk nearby is endless. But no one wants to say hi to the poor Times salesman. For the record, anyone who signs up for a subscription gets a $25 gift certificate at the Open. (Enough for nachos and a...

How The Times and Andrea Mitchell Made Today Difficult For Jonathan Karp and Cary Goldstein

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:03:00 -0400

People at the Hachette Book Group building winced this morning as the New York Times published a highlight reel from the embargoed Ted Kennedy memoir that Jonathan Karp will be publishing through his Twelve imprint on September 14th. The Times story, which was posted online last night, was picked up widely, and by this afternoon Andrea Mitchell was on NBC proudly holding up a copy of True Compass of her very own and reading...

Sam Dolnick, Member of the Sulzberger-Ochs Family, Joining Times Newsroom

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 08:14:31 -0400

A. G. Sulzberger is about to get a new friend on the third floor of the Times newsroom!

The Observer has learned that Sam Dolnick, a reporter for the Associated Press and grandnephew to former Times publisher Arthur Ochs "Punch" Sulzberger, is joining the metro desk at The Times. His first day is September 14, a Times spokeswoman said.

Mr. Dolnick most recently had been working in New Delhi for the Associated Press. His stories with New...

Lament for the Old-Fashioned Restaurant Critic

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:56:11 -0400

Sometime in the next week, The New York Times plans to name its newest restaurant critic.

“I hope to announce something by the end of the week,” wrote executive editor Bill Keller in an email to The Observer on Tuesday, Aug. 4. “That could slip, but it’s my hope.”

A well-placed source said that The Times has generated a shortlist of about four people—two or three from within the Times Tower, one from...

Mathis Speaks! The Times Co.'s Spokeswoman’s Greatest Hits

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:29:35 -0400

On Monday, Times Company spokeswoman Catherine Mathis announced that she’d be leaving the company to work at Standard and Poors, the financial analyst. Ms. Mathis was a Company Woman: She protected her bosses, Arthur Sulzberger and Janet Robinson, with all her might and wasn’t the glad-handling PR gossip who hit the circuit to butter up media reporters. In other words, if she wasn’t entirely forthcoming, she was loyal. Half her tenure was during unquestionably...

Times Company's Longtime PR Chief, Catherine Mathis, is Out

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:15:00 -0400

Catherine Mathis, the New York Times Company's soft-spoken and long-serving chief of public relations, is leaving the company to go to Standard & Poor's after 12 years.

It's been a turbulent year for the Times, even in a turbulent decade, and in a memo announcing her departure the company admitted that she has "served as the chief communications strategist and spokesperson through some of the most challenging chapters in our history."

Internally, the Times had begun...

Times' Harvey Araton Leaves Sports Desk for New Features Desk

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 07:00:21 -0400

After 15 years on the sports desk at The Times, and some four decades of sports writing, columnist Harvey Araton is switching beats.

Starting today, Mr. Araton will join a newly created group of Times feature writers. Mr. Araton will be writing features for the Sunday real estate section, Sunday Styles, Real Estate, Sunday Business and A1. It’s no surprise that the Times is starting up a group like this—with a de-emphasis on freelancers, the paper...

Times Turns Profit! Internet Ad Revenue Down, Company Goes on Defensive: Says Did 'Better Than' Yahoo

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 12:20:18 -0400

So: The good news! The New York Times Company earned a profit! After bleak first-quarter results, the Times was able to eke out a small profit of $39.1 million.

Then there are the more troubling signs: Internet advertising revenue went down again, this time 14.3 percent. But during a conference call with investors this morning, Denise Warren, the general manager of nytimes.com, was quick to defend the numbers.

Ms. Warren said that last year the Times had...

How The Times' Home Page Gets Made

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:55:19 -0400

By most counts, New York Times deputy managing editor Jonathan Landman still considers the front page of the printed newspaper a sacred space, a place where editors and reporters display their best work and uphold the tradition of The Times’ quality reporting. “The front page is still a front page; there’s still six stories there, and they are what they are,” Mr. Landman told The Observer. “They occupy the same positions that they always...

Running on Appy! Times Connects with Marathoners Thanks to Interactive Crew

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:00:52 -0400

A couple of months ago, New York Times health writer and “Well” blogger Tara Parker-Pope realized that she wasn’t being very, well, healthy.

“I kind of woke up one day and thought, ‘The biggest problem with the Well blog right now is the Well blogger is not taking care of herself,’” she told The Observer in an interview. Ms. Parker-Pope admitted she had abandoned the gym—at a time when she ...

VocabSushi: Read the Times Without a Dictionary!

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:07:56 -0400

Ever read The Times and feel like you need a dictionary by your side? Last month, Times deputy news editor Philip Corbett sent a memo to reporters about the 50 most frequently looked-up words on nytimes.com. "Sui generis," "penury," "peripatetic" made the top of the list. Interesting!

Well, now there's a site that can help you brush up on your vocab without pulling out a No. 2 pencil. Check out VocabSushi.com, a site...

Wall Street Journal Develops New York–Specific Culture Section

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:06:49 -0400

Eighteen months ago, at the Marriott Hotel on West Street in the Financial District, Rupert Murdoch had his first meeting as owner of The Wall Street Journal with the newspaper’s bureau chiefs and senior editors.

Over dinner and cocktails, Mr. Murdoch started beating a drum about things he wanted to add to The Wall Street Journal—a snappier front page, an expanded Web site, a sports section and a beefed-up culture...

Times' Alissa Rubin Leaving Baghdad to cover Afghanistan; Steven Lee Myers Named Times Baghdad Bureau Chief

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:21:13 -0400

Alissa Rubin is leaving the Times' Baghdad bureau to cover Pakistan and Afghanistan, and Steven Lee Myers will replace her as Baghdad bureau chief, The Observer has learned.

Mr. Myers, a former Bush White House reporter who has been reporting from Iraq since February, will become the Times' fourth Baghdad bureau chief in just over two years (Jim Glanz left the bureau to work for the investigations unit; John Burns left to go to London). Rod Nordland, the former Baghdad...

New Rules for Times Company Cell Phones

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:22:44 -0400

In today’s edition of New York Times cost-saving: Times editors are now strongly encouraging staffers to quit texting on their company cell phones, avoid using the phones entirely when overseas on assignment and never, ever to call 411 with a company phone.

Back in January, deputy managing editor Bill Schmidt instructed staffers on how to produce cheaper expense reports—book less pricey hotels, monitor lunch and dinner costs, etc.—but this takes the newsroom cost-savings measures to a...

Bill Keller and Jill Abramson Ride the Times' Publicity Caravan

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 05:06:31 -0400

“We’ve never done anything like this,” said Rick Berke, assistant managing editor of The New York Times.

It was Monday night at the TimesCenter and Mr. Berke made this announcement on a well-lit stage in a dark auditorium as he prepared to interview his two bosses, Times executive editor Bill Keller and managing editor Jill Abramson, at an event called "Behind the Scenes at The New York Times."

Paying $20, a few...

Bill Keller Hits Airwaves to Talk Kidnapping, Iran and the Daily Show

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 08:16:50 -0400

"I mean, I spent way more than I care to of my time thinking about the future and working on the future of the Times business model," said Bill Keller, executive editor of The Times, speaking on CNN's Reliable Sources about his decision to go to Iran for the presidential election. "But running a newspaper and a Web site is what I do."

And so this week, Mr. Keller concerned himself with issues that Times editors of...

Aunt Mabel Suggests...

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:00:03 -0400

Ever notice that the NYTimes.com most-emailed list is slanted toward an older demographic? Maybe because only folks over a certain age—like our Aunt Mabel—still use the email tool. Here's a quick, annotated guide to what grandma and grandpa thought you might be interested in from NYTimes.com ...

An Observation: Aunt Mabel decided to shake things up on Wednesday! Only one story from the top 10 list yesterday remains on the list. But don't worry: She...

Times Staffers Get Cut— From Daily Show Segment

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:12:37 -0400

Minutes after The Daily Show’s segment on The Times aired last week, some in the Times newsroom voiced their sentiment that correspondent Jason Jones’ “report” went just fine. “That was awesome,” said one staffer to us on the night of the show. “We’re good sports!”

But several hours later, the outside world revealed its own reaction, which was less than favorable. To most viewers, executive editor Bill Keller and assistant managing editor Rick Berke—and communications...

A Lesson in Times Metaphors: Is Albany More Like Feudal Japan or Afghanistan?

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:06:22 -0400

Here's a quote from a story written by the Times' Nick Confessore, which appeared on A1 on June 14, headlined, "Senate Coup Exposes Albany’s Lack of Order""

"'It’s like feudal Japan,” said Blair Horner, legislative director of the New York Public Interest Research Group. “There’s a weak emperor and strong warlords.'”

Here's a line from a story written by the Times' Clyde Haberman, which appeared on A13 on June 16, headlined, "From Halls of Montezuma to Floors of Albany,...

Aunt Mabel Suggests....

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 08:49:44 -0400

Ever noticed that the NYT most emailed list is slanted toward, well, an older demographic? Maybe because only folks over a certain age—like our Aunt Mabel—still use the email tool! Here's a quick, annotated guide to what grandma and grandpa read in the paper (and sent to you!) over the weekend. We read it so you don't have to!

1. Rich is king this Sunday and is the only top 10 writer to directly
address Obama