Executive Editor of The Times and Top Deputy Step Down

NYTimes ^ | 6/5/03 | JACQUES STEINBERG

[RJCogburn]

Howell Raines and Gerald M. Boyd, the two top-ranking editors of The New York Times, resigned this morning, five weeks to the day after the resignation of a wayward reporter named Jayson Blair set off a rapid chain of events that exposed deep fissures in the management and morale of the newsroom they had led for just under two years.

In a hastily arranged ceremony in the third-floor newsroom, on the same spot where the paper had celebrated winning a record seven Pulitzer prizes just 14 months ago, the newspaper's publisher, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., told staff members that he wanted to "applaud Howell and Gerald for putting the interest of this newspaper, a newspaper we all love, above their own."

Mr. Sulzberger said that on an interim basis, Mr. Raines, who was the paper's executive editor, would be replaced by Joe Lelyveld, 66, his immediate predecessor, who retired in 2001. There will be no immediate replacement for Mr. Boyd, 52, who was the paper's managing editor.

In front of dozens of reporters, editors, photographers and other newsroom staff members, many of whom sobbed audibly, Mr. Raines, 60, told them: "Remember, when a great story breaks out, go like hell."

The remark, which could have been spoken by one of the role models Mr. Raines often cited to his staff, the legendary Alabama football coach Bear Bryant, underscored the magnitude of the many news stories that he and Mr. Boyd had led the staff through in just 21 months: the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon; the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; the explosion of the space shuttle Columbia, and, ultimately and most recently, the exposition and investigation into how Mr. Blair had committed the equivalent of journalistic fraud on at least 36 occasions since October.

But after the deceptions of Mr. Blair were brought to light, in a four-page article that was published on Mother's Day, it became clear that Mr. Raines's hard-charging leadership style had not only played a role in creating the atmosphere that allowed Mr. Blair to do what he did largely undetected but had also alienated him from his staff.

Three days after that article appeared, Mr. Raines appeared before the newsroom staff at a town hall-style meeting to accept ultimate responsibility for what Mr. Blair had done and to pledge to improve his rapport with the people who worked for him.

While Mr. Raines had tried hard in recent days to win over some of his biggest internal critics, at dinners and in private conversation, it was not immediately clear this morning why that effort had come to an abrupt end.

This morning, after embracing many Times employees from the newsroom and throughout the building, including Mr. Sulzberger's father, Arthur Sulzberger Sr., the paper's chairman emeritus and former publisher, Mr. Raines grabbed a straw hat from the office he had just vacated and walked into the drizzle on West 43rd Street with his wife. Mr. Boyd followed a minute or two later.

"There is so much to say," said the younger Mr. Sulzberger, "but it really just boils down to this: This is a day that breaks my heart, and I think it breaks the hearts of a lot of people in this room."

A moment later, he added: "Now our task is to go back to doing what we're here to do — publishing this great newspaper. Our readers deserve no less."

[ConservativeMan55]

Another one bites the dust!!!

[martin_fierro]

Live discussion thread

[theDentist]

Or: "Rats Ordered Off Sinking Ship"

[w_over_w]

Arthur Sulzberger Jr., told staff members that he wanted to "applaud Howell and Gerald for putting the interest of this newspaper, a newspaper we all love, above their own."

Starting today . . .

[ConservativeMan55]

One liberal down....millions that need to go!!!

[bannie]

yes...DOMINOS...If I go down, I'm takin' y'all WITH ME!!!

[ConservativeMan55]

Next Georgie Stephanopolis should go down!!
Then Gray Out Davis...then the world!
Bwahahahahahaha!

[VRWC_minion]

Step Down ? They were pushed.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Amazing! I cannot figure out why they didn't resign immediately. But, better late than never.

[friendly]

Does this mean the NY Times will stop presenting their morning press releases from Hillary and the DNC as breaking news?

No, the rot goes very deep at the Old Grey Liar. And the publisher is a royal anus to boot.

[Copernicus]

Posted to *CCRM

[VaBthang4]

Yep...

[gcruse]

Apparently Raines was a brutal man to work for. It is a rare and wonderful thing to see this kind of people go down, but the NYT is institutionally leftist; replacing one Stalinist with another isn't going to change anything.

The really good news is that the 60,000 drop in circulation of the Times as measured a few weeks ago, was matched by a 60,000 increase in circulation of the New York Post, a Newscorp property.

The ascendency of Fox, college students rejecting leftist speakers, Hollywood being told to sit down and shut up...it's all good. I hope these recent wobbles are approaching a 'tipping point' and Humpty Dumpty is really slipping from the wall. My 401K is over 15% for the year. It's a good thing, Martha. Martha? Oh, right.

[X-FID]

Mr. Raines, 60, told them: "Remember, when a great story breaks out, go lie like hell."

That's more like it!

[rwfromkansas]

What was this Lelyveld character like?

[bruinbirdman]

Maureen Dowdy is a syndicated communist. Many newspapers around the country can make their own statement by dropping her.

yitbos

[rwfromkansas]

This reporter's article indicates that the staff did not like Raines and that that influenced the decision.

I find it interesting this reporter was writing about the opinions of his colleagues and probably herself like some unbiased outsider or something, which she certainly is not. They should have just simply ran a short story with a statement from the two about their decision, not assign some reporter to do a big deal about it. But anyway......not to nitpick...lol.

[The Raven]

This is good !!!!

[freeangel]

So how do we get the AJC to dump that half wit Cynthia Tucker for her "half truths" and racist rhetoric?