Friday, November 15, 2013

What's up at NYTimes? Staffers continue to jump ship.

Yesterday, three more high-profile editors and writers quit the New York Times.  Sunday Magazine Editor-in-Chief Hugo Lindgren, Chief Political Correspondent Matt Bai, and media columnist Brian Stelter joined the procession of senior staff leaving the New York Times in recent months.
In the words of one former Times journalist, the paper doesn't have the cachet or perks it once did -
“Nearly everyone who gets a lucrative offer will leave,” (a former Times) journalist said. “The era of the lifelong Timesman -- or lifelong Timeswoman -- is over.” 
Times executive editor Jill Abramson tried to put a positive spin on things while acknowledging the large number of departures -
"Retention is becoming a challenge," Abramson told New York magazine. "The economy has improved, whether it's Bloomberg or The Huffington Post, I can feel on any given week that I'm playing whack-a-mole keeping our most talented people."
Perhaps referring to your top talent as "whack-a-moles" is not the best phrasing for a news organization that still likes to think of itself as elite (joining the Times' recently offered replacements for "repeatedly and consistently lying" - "misspoke" & "factually incorrect statement").  It should be no surprise that staffers in the newsroom are growing concerned about managements ability to retain and nurture talent.

It should be noted that the departure frenzy was initially bolstered by the Times' multiple offers over the last five years of buy-outs to dozens senior news staffers as cost-savings measures, and continued concerns over newsroom costs.

Source -  New York Times Departures Heighten Concerns About Staff Retention,  Huffington Post


No comments:

Post a Comment