The ‘Times’ promotes paper’s No. 2 to executive editor role
NEW YORK — The New York Times has named Joseph Kahn as its new executive editor, replacing Dean Baquet with his current second-in-command to lead the news organization as it rapidly transforms itself in the digital age. Kahn, who has been managing editor at the Times since 2016, will take over on June 14. Baquet, who at 65 has reached the traditional retirement age for the Times’ top newsroom leader, will remain at the newspaper in a capacity that will be announced later.
Kahn, 57, joined the Times in 1998 from the Wall Street Journal. He previously served as the newspaper’s Beijing bureau chief, worked as an economics reporter and led its international desk, which won six Pulitzer Prizes under his stewardship.
“Joe brings impeccable news judgment, a sophisticated understanding of the forces shaping the world and a long track record of helping journalists produce their most ambitious and courageous work,” said A.G. Sulzberger, the Times’ publisher and chairman, in a memo to staff members Tuesday. “We couldn’t ask for a better leader for our newsroom amid a historic convergence of events.”
Kahn was not made available for comment.
His appointment wasn’t a surprise to many who follow such moves, and Sulzberger said those who will interpret it as a sign of confidence in the Times’ current path are correct. Unlike some other papers, and perhaps befitting of what is essentially a family-run institution, the Times’ tradition is to promote its top leader from within. Kahn fits that bill
The organization has made a digital transformation with startling speed: Its roughly 10 million digital subscriptions increased tenfold since 2014. The Times produces a popular podcast, The Daily, started a video investigative unit, bought the sports website The Athletic and now even owns the popular puzzle Wordle.
Kahn was president of the Harvard Crimson in college. He began work at the Dallas Morning News but set his sights on China, and was working there when the Journal hired him in 1993. He “knows more about China than almost anyone,” said Jill Abramson, Baquet’s predecessor as Times’ executive editor.
“He is a lovely man — modest and scrupulous — and was always a great colleague,” Abramson said.
She said he’s well-equipped to lead in the digital age, noting that Kahn was behind the creation of the Times’ Chinese-language edition. As managing editor, he’s led the Times’ push into becoming a digital-first operation, championed different forms of storytelling and led efforts to make the newsroom more diverse and inclusive, Sulzberger said.