The New York Times has finally named a successor for longtime executive editor Dean Baquet.
Joseph Kahn, a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has been managing editor at The Times since September 2016, will step into the role on June 14, overseeing all aspects of The Times’ global newsroom.
A. G. Sulzberger, the publisher of The Times, said: “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. We couldn’t ask for a better leader for our newsroom amid a historic convergence of events. And as one of the architects of our digital transformation, Joe’s vision will be crucial as we seek to become even more valuable to readers around the world.”
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Kahn added: “I’m deeply humbled to lead a global newsroom of immensely talented journalists who provide original, on-the-ground, indispensable reporting about the most important news of our time. The New York Times will continue to play an essential role in producing and protecting independent journalism.”
He joined The Times in 1998 and was appointed Beijing bureau chief five years later. He has also held the roles of deputy foreign editor and international editor. Prior to The Times, Kahn spent four years as China correspondent for The Wall Street Journal and also worked as a reporter for The Dallas Morning News, where he was part of a team awarded a Pulitzer Prize for their reporting on violence against women around the world. He later won another Pulitzer for his reporting on ragged justice in China while at The Times in 2004.
Since taking on the role of managing editor, Kahn has led a modernization and expansion of The Times’ newsroom by introducing hubs in London and Seoul, and a digital-first editing structure. More recently he has been a coleader of the newsroom’s diversity, equity and inclusion action plan.
For his part, Baquet, who has been executive editor for the past eight years, said: “It has been my great honor to lead the best newsroom in the world for the past eight years. I could not be leaving The Times in better hands than with a leader like Joe, who is not only brilliant but humane. I would like to thank the Sulzberger family for their continued dedication to protecting our country’s most powerful engine of independent, investigative journalism.”
It is not known exactly what Baquet plans to do next, although Sulzberger said he would remain at the company to “lead an exciting new venture.”
Speculation about Baquet’s successor has swirled for the last two years, ever since the pandemic began and he began spending a great deal of time in Los Angeles, running the newsroom — which is still generally working remotely — from there. There had been speculation that he would leave The Times to become executive editor of The Los Angeles Times, where he worked for six years — including a year as top editor — before being fired for refusing to make newsroom cuts. But Baquet stayed at The Times in New York and is stepping down having turned 65 last September. While The Times has made significant strides in circulation under his tenure, and won numerous Pulitzers, there also have been a string of controversies.
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